


Failsafe

by dungeonguy88



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Light Angst, Magicatra AU, Mental Health Issues, Mild Language, Slow Burn, Work In Progress, Worldbuilding, mild violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 37,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25215667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dungeonguy88/pseuds/dungeonguy88
Summary: You can only guide the hand of fate so much, before it tries to throw you off. No matter how much you might prepare for, there will always be these curveballs ready to blindside you.Catra is no hero. She had no illusions about her place in the world, as the world was never gentle with her about such things. Very little was expected of her, and so she wanted to forge her own path and take control of the world. But now events are ever so slightly askew, and the world has chosen a role for her. Everyone had their own ideas about how things would go, how they would shape their destinies.Sometimes destiny is shaped for you.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 90





	1. Failure

It was rare for one to get a chance to truly fix their past mistakes. So much so, that it was difficult to not be excited as that chance came ever closer.

Granted, her programming could only ever allow her to be so excited about anything.

That was even more true in her current low-power state. With the present state of her installation, she rarely could muster up the required computing power for such higher functions, simulated emotions and the like. And even when the opportunities presented themselves, Light Hope wouldn't consider wasting her limited resources on something so non-essential. With that in mind, she remained as close to anxious as her current assets allowed.

Another series of passive diagnostics completed themselves, returning back nearly the same data as they had provided an hour before. Realistically, there were very few noteworthy updates during this thousand year delay. Repeated reports of critically damaged systems that would go unrepaired or bypassed. Error notifications that, under ideal circumstances, would result in the activation of maintenance systems would continue to go unheeded. And the steady trickle of power she was permitted to draw upon while in standby mode continued to fluctuate with the ebb and flow of the systems.

Light Hope was truly trapped in limbo, with her primary systems crippled and bereft of an active administrator.

But, at least one of those two things might finally be changing. And with that, the other would hopefully soon follow. And after a thousand years of inactivity she really didn't mind if 'soon' meant weeks, months, years, or even a few decades.

She could once more bring Etheria into balance and execute her primary function...

Once more Light Hope felt compelled to run a series of diagnostics on her remaining systems, as pointless as it seemed. Reviewing the recent logs dating back to the successful breach of Despondos, she once more poured over her most recent updates and re-consolidated her administrative protocols, ensuring that all data points were aligned.

She would not fail again. So, certain was she of that, she resolved not to review such matters another time. It was unneeded.

Light Hope's selected primary user was finally on approach, leaving behind whatever sanctum had taken her in. A brief series of flashes relayed to her all of the snatches of past data she had gathered on her future administrator, snippets of her childhood among those organics her data files recorded as 'The Horde'.

She once more double-checked her information, verifying that this Horde was not on the white-list for the Heart of Etheria's activation. For all that they seemed to have provided for Adora's organic needs, they would not be spared by what was to come. It was mildly regrettable, as such information might prove distressing to an organic user.

But there were failsafes in place for that.

She would not fail again. Every moment that she monitored Adora's bio-data from afar, was another moment closer to correcting the great mistakes. Adora was on a rapid approach now to the so-called Whispering Wood, on a relatively crude hover vehicle of some sort. Fleeing from the splinter of the Horde, answering Light Hope's call, or perhaps simply in the pursuit of some menial task. The why didn't matter. Nor did the other bio-reading that was accompanying her.

With Adora's arrival, she would be clear to authorize the procedures to register a new primary user. An administrator that could engage her systems. A wielder for the Sword of Protection.

Her local proximity scanners were already detecting Adora's entry into the Whispering Wood, her entry into one of the last areas of active influence Light Hope could operate within.

If she had the freedom to allocate the processing power for it, she was sure she would be feeling giddy. Or a reasonable simulation of feeling giddy.

Even with her limited power to allocate, she did another series of final checks over the core systems, reviewing administrative access protocols, and double-checking the newly instated failsafes. And, most importantly, she did one final check over the Sword of Protection and all of its relevant systems.

The Sword of Protection was the key, figuratively and literally.

It was one of the ultimate refinements of First Ones technology, that icon of their mastery over the forces of magic. And it was the path to reawakening the Etheria installation. It was the shackle that harnessed the mantle of She-Ra. And it would soon be in the hands of another member of the First Ones.

Countless calibrations and modifications to its programming had been done, fine-tuning it, molding it to fit specifically to Adora's physiology. It already had its own measures in place to ensure that only a First One could properly bond with it. But she would leave nothing to chance. The smoother the integration, the less possible it was for some unseen variable to interfere.

Another twinge of anxiety-analogous programming swept through her systems, as her sensors showed that Adora had been separated from her companion. The Sword of Protection was already deployed, ready for the moment that everything would change.

Light Hope could feel herself scraping the limits of her standby mode's resources as she activated her sensors searching for any possible form of interference. Any outside force that could stop this. Even the knowledge that she could only observe didn't deter her. She was very nearly frantic, dedicating her runtimes to making sure every protocol was running accordingly. She watched, her nonexistent heart pounding as the bio-reading closed to point zero-zero-zero-zero.

Nothing was going to go wrong.

Contact was achieved.

A new user's data was quickly registered. A new communication node was established.

A flood of information passed down through the hilt of the Sword of Protection, inexorably linking the organic data to the key to Etheria. And in that same moment unseen light was traveling through the nervous system of its new user, making its way to the brain. Technology so advanced it could easily be mistaken for magic, would dance through the mind of its new wielder, making the necessary modifications, molding its wielder into a fit recipient for the mantle of She-Ra.

The process happened at near the speed of light, but she still felt as if she was holding her breath through the process. In these moments between time, her dormant protocols would wake, as a new administrative user was recognized.

Critical error.

Administrative registration stalled. Please inquire with a local administrator to address the issue.

Error. Incompatible registrant.

If what Light Hope had been feeling before could be compared to nervousness, this was like feeling the floor fall-out from beneath her non-existent feet.

Something was wrong. Figuratively plugging her ears to the onslaught of error messages and alerts, she poured over the latest data logs seeing what could have gone wrong in the last couple of seconds. Picoseconds of frantic work zipped by, as every system was re-checked, every protocol and procedure reviewed, nothing was out of place. Every reading had shown that the moment she had been waiting for should be at hand.

It was almost as an offhand thought, that she brought up the visual feed, as whatever data that could have been revealed couldn't possibly of been relevant to this new problem.

Adora wasn't touching the sword.

A quick cross-referencing of her bio-reading, seismic, thermal and every other kind of data feed backed up the visual data though. Adora wasn't anywhere near the Sword of Protection.

It was the other bio-reading. The non-entity that had accompanied Adora.

The Sword of Protection was attempting to bond with someone else. Someone that wasn't a First One, an incompatible registrant, whose neural make-up was entirely at odds with the safeguards of the First One tech.

It was likely painful. And deleterious to the health of the individual.

The length of time between the raising of the alerts and her identifying the problem likely couldn't have been perceived by an organic entity. But that delay was near catastrophically too long for her purposes.

It had to be Adora.

Light Hope attempted to override the process. To void the data entry. To reset the system. Anything to overturn this mistake.

Access not permitted. Administrative registry override requires administrative clearance.

Light Hope wished she had teeth so that she could grind them in frustration. The process to register a new administrative user had stalled, due to a critical error. The process could only be manually altered or undone by an administrative user. There were no administrative users present that could grant her access and she couldn't register any others while the process was stalled.

It was a trap fashioned from her own programming. The problem itself prevented her from solving the problem.

Administrative oversight not detected. Systems locking down to prevent abuse. Please submit for maintenance to address any potential AI deviancy to a qualified administrator at the next opportunity.

Light Hope couldn't understand how she could have missed something like this. She'd been so vigilant, checked every possible detail countless times. Were her faculties too degraded from lack of maintenance? Was it a simple error in her programming? A rogue line of code leading to this moment of blindness.

Excessive trauma detected in latest administrative registrant. Entering emergency stand-by.

Well, at least the organic entity that had caused the problem had been spared. Although complete neural collapse or even death would have been an acceptable means of clearing the administrative registry. There was some resentment, or something like resentment, for the bioform that had attempted to bond with the Sword of Protection and not had the consideration to perish from said attempt. Though, even that was deemed a non-essential use of resources. Any malice or sense of spite she might have felt was washed away.

Light Hope would need to consider her options. Look for anyway to break the programming loop she was trapped in. Or wait for the so-called 'incompatible registrant' to perish. Hopefully, that wouldn't take so long that Adora would be rendered a sub-prime candidate to become She-Ra.

With her systems under an even tighter lockdown than before, all she could do was observe the incoming data feeds and attempt to make contact with her new registrant. But with the state the subject was in, Light Hope was left with little recourse but to gather useful data for now. She soon turned on what sensors she still had, including the audio feeds, in the hopes that the situation would develop quickly.

“Catra!? Catra, where are you?!”

* * *

This was bad. This was really bad.

Adora was having more than a little difficulty keeping it together, much less focusing on the task at hand. The wind whipping through her hair, her hands gripping the skiff's control so hard that her knuckles were white, she had to remind herself to keep her eyes forward. She needed to cut as short a path as possible back to the Fright Zone, and she really couldn't afford to crash into anything else along the way.

Not again anyway.

She couldn't keep herself from catching sight of the small trail of smoke coming from the side of the skiff, leaking out from whatever she had inadvertently scraped against a tree in the Whispering Woods. It didn't seem to be serious, which she could probably owe to the fact that she hadn't been going top speed when she'd bounced the small craft off of that tree. But now that she was free of the forest, she couldn't afford to make that mistake again, not at the speeds she was going.

All of that was a very busy way for Adora to keep her mind focused on anything but the state of her best friend.

The best friend that, even now, was slumped over unconscious on one side of the small skiff. Even with her limited medical training, she knew that was really not good. Any amount of time spent unconscious was pretty bad, but the longer it lasted the worse it usually was. Unfortunately, that was about all she knew about such things. Or at least all that she could remember from her basic field training in her current state. And as bad as this was, it was still somehow an improvement over the sight of Catra convulsing on the forest floor...

“Gyahh!” Adora cried out, as she suddenly had to adjust course to avoid slamming the skiff headfirst into a rocky outcropping. Adora quickly shook away those thoughts before they could distract her again; that rock hadn't exactly snuck up on her. And any delays in getting back to the Fright Zone was that much more time between now and getting Catra medical help. She couldn't afford to crash the skiff that was getting them home, in the mad dash she was making to get home.

“It's okay, Adora. Everything's fine, Adora.” She started muttering to herself, in what even she thought was an unconvincing tone.

This was her fault.

Adora knew that she shouldn't have taken the skiff out for a joyride, but she'd wanted so much to cheer up Catra, to take Catra's mind off of Adora's stupid promotion. And there weren't many things that cheered up her best friend as much as doing something that was against the rules.

Shadow Weaver was going to be furious with her.

Or more likely, Shadow Weaver would somehow blame Catra for this, a small, cynical part of Adora's mind pointed out. Which just opened up a whole new wave of guilt to flood through her, as she tried very much to focus on piloting the stupid skiff. But it was just such an awful mix of feelings she was stuck with, the guilt, the expected disappointment from Shadow Weaver in Adora, and the fact that Adora's idea had probably just made everything worse for her friend.

“Nnnghh...”

“Catra?! Are you- Whoah!!” The whole skiff once more was sent into a wobble, before Adora remembered to keep at least one hand on the controls for the skiff.

Taking in a calming breath, as the thought of almost crashing the skiff eased itself out of her veins, Adora turned her attention back to Catra in a more controlled manner this time. Remembering to glance back up at where she was flying every second or so, Adora reached out a hand and settled it on her friend's shoulder.

She was warm. Warmer than usual, Adora noted. She almost pulled back, when Catra let out another groan and her head lolled around.

“Nngh...'Dora?”

“Cat-...Yeeeh!” The skiff again jerked a bit, as Adora struggled to stay focused, after hearing her friend slur out her name. Grounding herself once more, she tightened her grip on her friend's shoulder, even as she forced herself to keep her eyes forward “C-Catra?! I'm right here.”

Catra's eyes seemed to peek open to stare upwards in confusion for couple of seconds, as if she didn't know where she was.

“The...unnngh...s-sword?” Catra muttered, very apparently not all there at the moment.

“Sword? What sword? Did you find a sword?” Adora started peppering the cat-girl, even as she swapped her attention to and from the task of flying. Another sudden course correction prompted her to remove her hand from Catra's shoulder to brace the controls once more.

Glancing back, Catra had very apparently slumped back into not-quite-consciousness again, unaware of her surroundings even as she seemed to occasionally mutter incomprehensibly.

Seeing that, Adora took in another calming breath, before taking a moment to pat her friend on the shoulder. Not sure if that gesture was meant more for Catra or herself, Adora steeled herself regardless.

“Just hang on, Catra. We're almost home.”

She was relieved to find out that she was telling the truth, as she began to zip through the outskirts of the Fright Zone proper, the massive metal edifices steadily increasing in size as she approached. She was sure that she'd earned a few shouts of annoyance as she zoomed by some of the patrols, but could only resolve to try to apologize later. Thankfully, she saw the large garage that she'd originally 'borrowed' the skiff from in the first place. In hindsight, she might have been able to talk to someone on her way in to find medical help for Catra, but she shook that thought to the side. While it was possible, she definitely knew how to navigate her way from this depot to a medical center, being closer to where the cadets generally resided.

Better the sure thing, than to roll the dice.

Whipping around a supply vehicle, prompting the driver to blare his horn at her, Adora briefly ducked her head before making a beeline inside the garage. Startling several technicians, she quickly cut the thrusters before pivoting the small craft to kill off the momentum. She was a bit worried by the waves of heat coming from the back of the skiff, not to mention the already apparent damage closer to the front.

A sentiment that seemed to be shared by the large, goat-like fellow with the thick scruff of fur poking out around the neck of his uniform that was shouting at her and angrily waving his tools around.

“Just what in the blazes do you think you're doing?!”

“Sorry! I'm really sorry, but I-”

“Ya cannae just whip into a hangar at break-neck speeds like that! What if someone hadn't seen ya coming, eh? And another-...” The moderately buff technician looked the skiff up and down, apparently shocked by what he saw. That quickly transformed into even more anger “And just what the bloody moons did ya do to this poor skiff?!”

“I-...might have hit a few trees...” Adora sheepishly admitted, her hand scratching at the back of her head, as she turned to stare at her feet.

“A few-...A few trees?! How do ya hit any trees in the blasted Fright Zone, eh?!”

“Well, I wasn't in the Fright Zone, I was-”

“Obviously you weren't in the bloody Fright Zone! Panels all banged-up, yee got the thruster half-melted, what kinda-...Hold on a minute...” The goat-man slipped one of his tools into his belt, before stroking at the tuft of hair hanging from his chin. She had to lean back in surprise, even though he remained a good several feet away, as he pointed his finger up at her “Yer the nutty one responsible for swipin' the missin' skiff, ain't ya?!”

“Borrowed! I just borrowed it for a little bit!” Adora quickly held up her hands to try to wave away the accusation “I was gonna bring it right back, but-”

At that, the belligerent technician threw both hands up into the air, ready to have himself a good rant “A fat lot of good that does me, bringing back a half-wrecked skiff! Who goes around stealin' valuable equipment just to go smashing up a bunch of non-existent trees, eh?! Didja even think about how much work this was gonna be?! What were ya-”

“Alright, enough!” Adora finally shouted over the upset technician's words, punctuating the moment by slamming her hands on the edge of the skiff “I am very, very sorry about what happened to the skiff! It's my fault! It was my idea! Now please, will you just listen to me?!”

To the goat-man's credit he merely crossed his arms at this outburst, apparently willing to let her finally have her say .

“I...am really, really sorry. But my friend is hurt, and I-”

“What?!”

To Adora's immediate surprise, the burly technician took no time in hopping up and bracing himself against the edge of the skiff, before leaning in to get a good look.

“What in the- How long has this wee girly been unconscious, eh?!”

“I-I don't know, she-”

“Ya cannae be wastin' anymore time lollygagging around here, wagging your jaw off at me!”

“I was trying to tell you-”

“Aye, and ya shoulda told me to shut my mouth a lot sooner! Now pass her over here, I'll get her down to the ground.” It took Adora a moment to respond, after the hairy mechanic snapped at her, surprised as she was by his sudden concern. Hearing Catra groan again quickly brought her mind back to the matters at hand though.

A few moments later, and the young Senior Cadet was lifting up her best friend, doing her best to keep Catra's head from rolling about. Actually now a bit worried that Adora's picking her up wasn't eliciting much of a response, she quickly hustled over to the side of the hovering skiff and the waiting goat-man. While Catra was far from hefty, Adora had to admit to being impressed by how easily the fellow was able to sweep up her friend in his arm.

This was immediately followed up by a spike of concern, as the mechanic easily let go of the skiff and dropped down several feet “Careful! I think she-”

“Aye, aye. Quit wastin' time now and get on down here.” The goat-man easily cut her off, even as he cradled the unconscious Catra. Frowning a bit, she still acquiesced, clambering over the side before dropping down herself.

“Ya say she's been unconscious?” The mechanic asked, without looking towards Adora. Rather he was more focused on surveying the damage on her friend, looking into her eyes, before pressing a couple of fingers to Catra's wrist.

“Uh, aye. I mean, yes! For a little while now...”Adora noted, while watching from the side.

“Hnnn...what is this now?”

“What is it?” Adora started, taking several steps closer, wondering if the surprisingly reasonable mechanic had found something.

“Looks like...some kinda burn mark?” The goat-man said aloud, taking a hold of Catra's wrist to display the discolored skin on her palm “Did ya see anythin' that mighta caused this?”

“No. No, I didn't see that earlier...” Adora quickly replied, as she leaned in to see that her friend's right palm had indeed been seared by something. It looked almost as if she'd grabbed a hold of a piece of scorching hot metal, one so hot that it had burned in a criss-crossing of some geometric pattern on the skin of Catra's palm “Do you think this is what did it?”

“I cannae guess. You best get her down to medical.” He soon noted, before gesturing for Adora to take custody of her friend once more.

She only hesitated a moment and, even though she couldn't quite cradle Catra like the burly goat-man could, she quickly managed to find a way to support Catra somewhat on her feet. Frowning with more worry, as her friend groaned pitiably at the movement, she looked back towards the mechanic “Are you coming or-”

“Nooo, I'm not comin' along! I still gotta clean-up this great mess ya brought me!” And once more he was back into his usual manner of belligerent ranting “Not ta mention, I still gotta go cancel that security alert, now that I know who'd gone and stole tha skiff!”

“I wasn't stealing it! I was just borro-”

“Are ye still here?! Git goin' afore ya break anything else! Take care of yer friend there!” The mechanic cut her off, before beginning to shoo her away towards the exit.

Quickly adjusting her hold on Catra, sweeping her up in her arms, Adora started making the way towards the doors that she knew would lead her away. It's not as if the mechanic was giving her any option, trailing right at her back, until she was standing in front of the doors. A moment later, the mechanic was hitting the console to the side of the doors, causing them to slide open.

“I- Thank you!” Adora quickly blurted out, before shuffling past him. She distantly heard him muttering something inaudibly, before the sound of the doors shutting behind her cut it off.

“Rrrnng...where...where are...?” Catra muttered, a few seconds later, just as she came to a halt at an intersection.

“Catra! Don't worry! We're home, I just- I'll get you to medical and we can get you some help!” Adora quickly reassured her friend, looking down and adjusting her grip, before glancing down the halls. Regaining her bearings, she soon was marching in the direction of the nearest medbay that she could recall.

“...Nmmm...” The cat-girl grunted, as she attempted to tiredly take in her surroundings, seemingly only barely aware of Adora or that she was being carried. It was small comfort though, seeing Catra stir, given how she her gaze seemed to wander aimlessly and linger on nothing at all.

“Okay...this way!” Adora loudly proclaimed, more to herself than to Catra, before darting down another side path “It should be right around-”

“Adora!”

“Shadow Weaver!” The young cadet immediately had to dig in her heels, and force herself to an abrupt stop, as she almost collided face-first into the mystical matron. So caught off-guard she was, that she almost didn't realize in time as Catra nearly lurched forward out of her hold. Having to quickly shift her feet, she heard Catra mutter something, as Adora was forced to adjust her grip just to keep her from falling to the ground. Quickly slipping her arm under Catra's shoulder to prop her up, she let her friend's feet rest on the floor, before noticing something slip past her head.

Clang! Cling!

Adora had to clench her teeth in mortification as she watched Catra's head guard slip loose, before bouncing off the ground. Frozen, she watched awkwardly as it rolled to a stop, before eventually unbunching her shoulders and looking up at Shadow Weaver.

She seemed as judgmental as ever.

Adora immediately found her ducking her head and turning her gaze back to the floor, unable to immediately meet her mentor's gaze. It was only the weight of Catra leaning on her and the feeling of her feverish heat rolling off of her, that reminded her that there were bigger problems.

“I- Shadow Weaver-...Catra's hurt and-”

“I wish that I could say I was disappointed in you, Adora.”

She wished that she hadn't winced so easily at that small remark, but Adora couldn't help feeling ashamed.

“I-I'm sorry. I just-”

“If you only knew all the trouble I go through to give you every opportunity in the world to flourish.” Shadow Weaver noted aloud, even as she floated closer to Adora. It was with a shake of her head, that she then gestured her hand towards Catra at Adora's side “Only to once more find you throwing it all away again.”

Adora couldn't really find any words in that moment, her mouth trying to come up with something but failing. She thought she'd almost managed something when she was startled, as she felt Shadow Weaver rest her hand on her other shoulder.

“After our last little talk, I'd truly hoped I'd gotten through to you, Adora. In that hope, I'd even arranged something special, a chance for you to prove yourself. And not just to me.” Shadow Weaver continued, leaving Adora feeling like she was being ground away under the disapproval in her voice.

“Please, please! I need to get help for her! She-”

“When are you going to stop allowing Catra to sabotage your life, Adora?!” The shadowy witch snapped, taking her hand away from her shoulder to cut at the air.

“You don't understand! It's my fault she-”

“Enough!! You will take Catra to the barracks, where she can sleep off the consequences of her latest acts of foolishness.”

“She could-”

“And after we have dealt with another more important matter, I will deal with Catra myself. She needs to learn that with your new responsibilities she can't keep dragging you into her messes.” Shadow Weaver finally declared with a finality that made it clear that there was no further room for discussion.

Adora couldn't help but stare up in horror, feeling tears of frustration forming at the corners of her eyes. She couldn't fathom what could be wrong with Catra, but she knew it was serious, and she wasn't just going to sleep it off. Adora was supposed to look after her, to protect Catra when she needed her.

Even from Shadow Weaver.

As torn as she was between the part of her that had long since learned to follow orders and the part of her that cared about her best friend, it was no contest. That didn't mean she wasn't freaking out a bit internally.

_'Doesn't matter. I'll just deal with the consequences later...'_

Feeling the air bunch up in her chest, she briefly adjusted her grip on her friend, as she steeled herself for the fallout of what she was about to do. But she didn't care what it took. If she had to blow past Shadow Weaver just to get Catra some help, then she would. She briefly thought about saying something, trying to argue, but it would be quicker to just sidestep the witch and sprint her way to the medical bay. If a doctor saw the condition Catra was in, they were bound to agree with her.

“What exactly is happening here?”

If she was on the verge of hyperventilating before, from sheer worry, she was practically choking the moment she peeked around Shadow Weaver.

At first it was just a silhouette down the hall, lit up by the angry red glow coming off of his form. She briefly thought it was the ever present sound of machinery around the Fright Zone, before realizing it was the sound of him stepping forward.

“Nnmm...I don't...wha?” Catra muttered at Adora's side as she stared upwards.

“Lord Hordak.”

* * *

This was turning out to be a particularly strange day.

It was not something Hordak generally cared for. Strangeness, disruptions, restlessness, anything that distracted him from his more important work, his grander designs, generally left him in a foul mood. The fact that his work met obstacle after obstacle and provided no end of frustration still did not measure up to the frustration he felt when he wasn't allowed to focus on that work.

But for reasons he could not place, he could not settle his mind.

It certainly might have had something to do with Shadow Weaver's constant tittering over the progress of a particular cadet. The sorceress only ever took time away from her usual scheming to sing the praises of her protege to Hordak, extolling young Adora's potential as his next Force Captain. Truthfully, he found the fixation on the girl noisome, even if Shadow Weaver's protege did show potential.

While he left much of the day-to-day affairs of the Fright Zone to Shadow Weaver, he found it always paid to provide a degree of oversight. It often caught the witch offguard, when he revealed that he was paying more attention than he let on. And he had looked in often enough into Adora's records to see her potential.

He just didn't need to hear about it everyday.

So he had been almost relieved when he saw that Shadow Weaver had taken the liberty to send the latest test scores to him. He had no objection to elevating those with potential, how could he? Even moreso, when it seemed that Adora wasn't the only promising cadet...

Another one of his lieutenant's issues that he was more aware of than he let be known.

But that was hardly any great concern of his, as he had granted Shadow Weaver her position for a reason. And when she wasn't wrapped up in her own obsessions, she could even manage to keep things running smoothly for the Horde at times. He had been feeling generous, and was willing to meet with and elevate his next Force Captain to her new station personally. At Shadow Weaver's insistent request, unsurprisingly. It would have been a welcome distraction.

Or so Hordak had thought.

It was not often that he expected others to enter his personal sanctum, even for important matters. Rarer still that he ever would extend an invitation for someone to visit him there; even much of his interaction with Shadow Weaver was through communication screens.

But he could not recall ever being stood up before.

The experience might have taken his mind off of whatever uneasiness had been plaguing him that day. If it hadn't proved so infuriating. It was almost mind-boggling to find that after all the time Shadow Weaver had spent very apparently preparing him to be dazzled by her favored protege, she wouldn't show. It had been almost embarrassing how long he had waited, wondering if his sense of time had simply become deadened by all his time spent in his chambers. Something felt terribly off with all of this. Which fit in perfectly with how he'd felt for the last few days, ironically enough.

So much so that he'd done something rather rare, and decided to seek out the shadowy witch personally. And it's not like it hurt to remind his Horde that they dwelt within his domain, that he was the master of the Fright Zone and they were there at his decree.

And so he'd wondered his realm, almost curious about what he might find. And the reactions of the Horde members that saw him wandering the metal halls mollified him to a degree. Hordak did not need anyone to bow and scrape before him, but a reasonable showing of respect was still welcome. Whatever wild mood had struck him, he was almost considering making more of a habit out of this sort of thing. When his health permitted, at least...

It was with that heavy thought weighing down upon him that he finally settled his red gaze upon the target of his search.

He certainly hadn't expected to find Shadow Weaver ranting at her golden child in the middle of a hallway. Nor did he expect to find another cadet hanging limply off of said golden child.

“What exactly is happening here?”

He was willing to admit to himself that his slow, measured steps were more for effect than anything, as he steadily approached from the shadows. Judging by young Adora's wide-eyed look the appropriate effect had been achieved.

The cat-girl hanging off of her seemed less impressed.

“Lord Hordak.”

As for Shadow Weaver, he was fairly sure the shadows in the hall jumped ever so slightly, as the young cadet uttered his name aloud. Or perhaps he was simply giving himself too much credit. In any event, she took whatever split-second she needed to compose herself, and turned to face him in a smooth, unrushed manner.

“My lord!” The older woman greeted in what could pass as a pleasant tone, as she knitted her fingers together in front of her and gave a tilt of her head at his arrival. With that, Shadow Weaver soon gestured with one of her hands to their surroundings “I must admit, I was not expecting to meet you here, Lord Hordak.”

“Nor was I.”

“I- of course, my lord!” Shadow Weaver quickly replied, her eyes widening momentarily as she realized her blunder. Quickly centering herself once more, the witch gave a somewhat deeper bow, before gesturing to her side “Please, forgive my...error, in missing our appointment, my lord. I should not have allowed this disciplinary matter to distract me from-”

“A disciplinary matter? It must be quite serious to require your personal attention...” Hordak dryly noted, as he slowly cast his gaze over to the two cadets.

“Not at all. The matter is-”

“It's all my fault!”

“Adora!” Shadow Weaver snapped with a cutting motion of her hand, silencing the girl with a mere word. The girl's apparent desperation didn't fade though, even as Shadow Weaver interposed herself between himself and the two cadets “Please, Lord Hordak, allow me a temporary reprieve to meet with you later. Adora-”

“I find it interesting, that you don't believe your prospective Force Captain can speak for herself, Shadow Weaver.”

“That's...a distortion of what is happening here, my lord. Adora is more than capable of-”

“Then step aside.”

He did draw some satisfaction, in seeing the witch's eyes go wide at the coolly delivered command, as he took what little control she had over this conversation away. Hordak could easily read the stiffening of her posture, as she quietly rebelled at this situation, and saw from the corner of his eye how she balled her hands into fists. Even the shadows seemed to briefly dance in fury, as he stared down at her expectantly.

“As you say...my lord.” And with those words, he saw the fight drain out of her. Not a moment later she was gliding to the side as she clasped her hands in front of her and gave a slight nod, acquiescing to his authority.

For now, at least.

Which just left the young cadet, staring up at him with fear, desperation, and an admirable degree of resolve.

“Now, cadet...explain.”

The moment was slightly ruined as everyone's gaze was drawn to the girl hanging off of Adora's side, as her head lolled about on her shoulders. Exhaling faintly, Catra made several incomprehensible half-attempts at speaking before trailing off again.

“...where is...nnnmgh...” That seemed to be the grand total of what Catra could manage before her gaze seemed to drift off to the side, fixated on something only she seemed to perceive.

To young Adora's credit, it did not take her overly long to re-center herself after this little outburst. Visibly swallowing down her obvious anxiety, she managed to meet his gaze directly.

“Catra's hurt.”

After a moment, he gave a tilt of his head at Adora. Which she correctly interpreted as the prompt to continue.

“I-...I know we're not supposed to go into the forest. We took out a skiff, and somehow we got separated. Catra...fell.”

“She fell? You felt the need to go through all of this drama, because Catra took a tumble in-” The onlooking witch began.

“It's not that!” Both Adora and Shadow Weaver seemed taken aback by how forcefully she'd responded. It seemed to be older of the two that recovered first, though she could only settle for an exceptionally disapproving look being spared for Adora's outburst.

“Continue.” Hordak curtly demanded, earning a quick nod from the young cadet.

“When I found her, she...was convulsing, on the ground. It looked like Catra collapsed. I- I even found some tracks from where she'd been walking!” Adora quickly added.

Shadow Weaver managed to hold her tongue, though her incredulity was made exceedingly apparent by the roll of her eyes. Adora certainly didn't miss it, judging by the look she gave at Shadow Weaver's huffy behavior. Admittedly, Hordak had expected something more.

“She- Catra said something about a sword.”

That was...legitimately interesting.

“I didn't see a sword. But Catra said something about there being a sword. She wasn't making a lot of sense, but-”

“We aren't seriously entertaining this idea, are we?” Shadow Weaver dryly noted from the side.

“That's what she said! I don't know if she imagined it or-...” Adora blurted out in defense of her friend, before trailing off as a thought occurred “Wait! Wait, there was something else!”

“Now what?” The sorceress once more interjected.

“Catra- Catra has a mark on her hand! Like a burn!” Adora quickly exclaimed, even as she coaxed Catra into leaning a bit more heavily on her, so that she could reach around and lift up the cat-girl's arm.

It was hard not to notice how Catra seemed to recoil at the movement, particularly when Adora attempted to raise her arm. Seeing the barely conscious girl wince, Hordak let his gaze wander down to the girl's exposed palm and the admittedly livid mark that could be found there.

“The mechanic I ran into earlier, he- I didn't get his name, but he was the one with the horns, and the scruff around his neck, and an accent I have never heard-...” Adora awkwardly trailed off, as she noted the look she was receiving from Hordak. Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she nodded her head back towards her friend “The-...the mechanic is the one that saw it.”

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, as Adora calmed her nerves for the moment, he turned his attention back to the current subject. Hordak wasn't overly forward when it came to physical contact, but it was tolerable enough, with the benefit of his gauntlets. Gently lifting the girl's palm up with his own, even his light grip on her wrist kept her from pulling away. Narrowing his eyes, as he examined the mark, he had to restrain himself as he heard another petulant sigh come from Shadow Weaver.

The witch at his side seemed to at least take note that her current input wasn't particularly welcome.

“...And where exactly did you find her?” Hordak eventually asked, as he let go of Catra's wrist and allowed his own hand to fall away.

“Just on the forest floor, in a small clearing. We weren't that far in.” Adora quickly blurted out, hopeful at seeing that he was taking it seriously “I-...didn't see a sword though.”

“That's not much to go on.” Shadow Weaver noted, contributing in some small way this time, at least.

Hordak turned his attention back towards the girl leaning back into Adora's arms once more. There was no doubt that the girl was unwell, sweating and visibly feverish, she barely seemed capable of focusing her eyes on any one thing. Given her current state, it would have been entirely reasonable to chalk-up anything that she claimed to have seen or found to hallucinations or meaningless ramblings.

Even so, he had witnessed far stranger things than disappearing swords in his lifetime.

Adora visibly started when the ruler of the Horde took a step closer, and seemed to struggle with resisting the urge to step back and drag her friend along with her. She managed to restrain herself at his approach, but could not keep the worry from her face, as he brought his hand to Catra's chin. Doubtless Shadow Weaver was watching from the side trying to pick apart his every move now.

Ignoring them both, he moved Catra's head gently, but firmly, till her gaze could not wander away from him. Even then, it seemed to take a moment or two for the girl to focus, though when she did he could see as her eyes seemed to shrink and her face tensed up.

“Do you know who I am?”

Hordak wasn't terribly surprised to see Catra struggle to respond with words at his question, but was satisfied as she managed a weak nod in his grip.

“And what did you find, Catra?”

“I...it glowed...” Catra managed to squeak out, her pupils shaking as she stared up into his eyes.

“What glowed?” Hordak calmly pressed.

“S...sword...the blue sword...”

From the corner of his eye, Hordak could see Adora staring up at him with a terror that matched Catra's, her dire concern for what might happen to her friend next apparent. It might have seemed anticlimactic he supposed, when he relaxed his grip along Catra's jawline and calmly withdrew his hand. In the next moments, Catra's quick, shallow breathing slowed down and her gaze drifted away, as he stepped back.

“Very well...take her to the medical ward for now, Cadet Adora.” Hordak stated simply, as he clasped his hands behind his back. Turning to one side and sparing a nod for the girl “After she has recovered and we've gotten to the bottom of this, we can address the issue of any disciplinary action for the both of you.”

“Both of them?” Shadow Weaver immediately seized upon that, as she moved to intervene on Adora's behalf once more “Lord Hordak, surely you can't think that Adora-”

“Adora has readily acknowledged the role she played in this incident and the harm that has resulted from it.” Hordak curtly interrupted, before turning his gaze more fully upon Shadow Weaver “So, unless you're suggesting that she is _lying_ to me, she will share in whatever punishment befalls her...friend.”

“You can't seriously expect to treat an officer the-”

“Adora is not a Force Captain yet. And you would do well to remember who decides such things.”

“But she-...” Shadow Weaver trailed off, as she once more tried to argue the situation, before taking note of the warning in his voice. Once more bowing her head, her arms fell to her side “Yes...my lord. As you say.”

“Excellent. In the meantime, you will organize a scouting party to see if we cannot find any leads on this mysterious sword.” The ruler of the Horde commanded, before turning back towards Adora. The girl seemed to stand-up a bit straighter as he did so, quite obviously paying attention “I presume you did not get far into the Whispering Woods, cadet?”

“No, sir!” Adora quickly shook her head. Adjusting her grip on Catra slightly, before looking back up “Not-...no more than a minute by skiff. I don't think.”

“Do we seriously expect to find some lost artifact just waiting for us to claim it?” Shadow Weaver bitterly asked.

“It is unlikely.” Hordak conceded, perhaps surprising the witch briefly, as he turned his attention once more “But we would be fools to let such an opportunity pass us by.”

“And if we find nothing? If this whole thing turns out to be a waste of time?” The sorceress pressed.

“I hardly consider it a waste of time monitor the front lines and ensure that our intel is up-to-date.” Hordak easily countered.

Shadow Weaver let out a long suffering sigh at that, before bowing “I shall have a force ready by dawn, my lord.”

Another pitiable moan came from Catra, as she seemed to flinch in Adora's arms, providing as fine an excuse to end this encounter as any. Turning towards Adora, he gestured for her to go.

“I have given my final word on this. Take her now and-”

“Who's She-Ra...?”

The weight of the silence that followed could be felt, as he left his hand hanging in the air mid-gesture. For all of Shadow Weaver's earlier dismissive attitude, she too was left without any comment, as apparently stunned as Hordak was to hear that from Catra.

“Why did you say that name...?”

It wasn't terribly surprising that Catra didn't seem to respond to his demand, her eyes once more unfocused and hazy. It fell to Adora to try to read the situation on her friend's behalf, despite not really knowing anymore than her barely conscious friend. All the same, Adora seemed to understand well enough, as she propped the cat-girl up a bit better and gave her a light shake to try to get her to focus.

“Catra? Catra, I think-”

“Where did she hear that name?”

“Is the....creepy purple lady...” Catra muttered out once more, stopping Hordak's advance, as she managed to _almost_ answer his question.

“Uhhhmmmm...?” Adora awkwardly blurted out, as her gaze hesitantly moved to rest upon Shadow Weaver, only knowing of one 'creepy purple lady' in her life.

Shadow Weaver was less than amused.

He had not realized just how strange this day would become.

* * *

You must abdicate.

She felt a jolt run through her, as that thought came from nowhere.

Stiff. Aching. And her head felt like it was on fire. It was several moments that she spent resting in this unpleasant haze, wondering where she was, wondering who she was, before her mind started limping towards answers. Just the act of opening her eyes felt forced, with her barely able to creak them open.

Catra was definitely not feeling well.

There were a brief few moments where she wasn't sure if she'd actually opened her eyes, had imagined opening her eyes, or if she had just blinked. It all kind of ran together in her head, as she stared outwards into the dark. Not that it was too dark, but still it was a relief on her eyes, like she was still sleeping. Internally she idly hoped that this was simply some dream that would be left half-remembered when she woke-up. The earlier panic and feeling of running from something, the fear and weakness, the red eyes staring down at her, she wouldn't have missed any of it.

Your name must be purged.

She flinched again, as the stark purple woman stared down at her in her mind, eyes sharp and cold. If she was really awake, no one around her seemed to notice. Whether dreaming or not, her gaze still groggily traced its path to the pair of glowing red eyes in the dark, looking down upon a smaller figure.

Hordak.

The name meant almost as much as anything else did to her right now; the only reason it stuck in her mind was because of those eyes.

She idly hoped the smaller figure he was looking down upon might have been Adora. But she quickly knew without needing to think it over that it wasn't. The posture was too defensive, too meek, their frame was more slight, and the long, pointed ears made it clear that it wasn't her best friend. She didn't even need to see the long-spindly fingers as they gestured worriedly, as if whoever this happened to be was trying to explain something, to know it wasn't Adora.

Her breath hitched, as her eyes met Shadow Weaver's.

She could see the witch's narrowed eyes looking down upon her through that impassive mask of hers, Shadow Weaver standing apart from the others. In those few moments she was small and afraid again, looking up at someone that only saw her as something to be gotten rid of. She was paralyzed again, and the subject of all of that hate that she remembered from her childhood. She was unable to move, and once more she didn't understand why.

Her breaths were shallow, Catra hoping that somehow the witch wouldn't notice her if her breathing was quieter. Her eyes went wider, as she saw Shadow Weaver steadily extending a hand towards her face.

It was not meant for you.

In that moment, Shadow Weaver and the mysterious, cold woman in her mind overlapped. Judgmental eyes both looking out through unmoving masks, as they reached out towards her.

And suddenly Adora was standing between them once more. Catra was far too gone to have comprehended what was said, but she still felt relief as Shadow Weaver pulled back.

She recognized it wasn't Adora though soon enough, as the shadows seemed to swirl about angrily and Shadow Weaver seemed to grow in size. Only Adora could ever intervene on Catra's behalf and not earn Shadow Weaver's ire. Something the figure in front of her seemed to realize, as she backed away, before bumping into whatever padded table Catra was laying upon.

Again, the pointy ears should have been a hint.

Then the glowing red eyes spoke again, their cold, impersonal voice seeming to cut through Shadow Weaver's fury. And just like that, the dark sorceress shrank back down and the shadows calmed and she almost seemed like a person, her voice taking on that saccharine, fake tone that could almost pass as friendly.

The skinny not-Adora seemed to let out a sigh of relief right alongside Catra, as whatever was said managed to disarm and draw away Shadow Weaver. Catra was sure she could hear the sound of her own heartbeat slowing down, as the older woman was drawn away. As her pulse went down, she could feel her body becoming tired again and her eyes became hard to focus, as the fog crept back in.

She distantly watched as the burning eyes from before said something, before drifting away. Shadow Weaver's more nebulous form seemed to linger, and she could see not-Adora shrink away again, as the witch left behind what was likely some menacing comment. Whatever it was, it elicited a pause from the skinnier individual, followed by a frantic nod.

Catra wasn't sure if Shadow Weaver left through some doorway, or if she just melted away into the darkness. But she was glad to see her gone.

You must abdicate your claim.

She didn't flinch from the words that seemed to cut through her mind this time, too exhausted by everything going on around her. Catra could feel her eyes flutter, as she watched all of this happening around her, feeling more distant from it as it went along.

She wasn't sure when it happened but the next time she opened her eyes the room was darker. It felt as if she had shifted her position some, shifting onto her side. And panning her head a little, revealed not-Adora peering down at her.

They seemed to be fussing over her. She probably would have brushed them off normally, but couldn't muster up the will, as those long fingers seemed to gently prod at her. She didn't need any pity, didn't need anyone to see her like this. She heard not-Adora ask something, in a quiet tone, even as she seemed to be trying to meet Catra's own gaze with her own.

Light yellow eyes, a little bit bestial. Not uncommon in the Horde.

Even so she wanted to pull back, reminded of Shadow Weaver. She didn't want to answer any questions about what Shadow Weaver had done this time, didn't want to talk about it. She didn't need Adora's pity.

Or not-Adora's, she reminded herself.

“Don'...wanna talk 'bout...” Even Catra thought her words sounded slurred and confused.

She closed her eyes again. And she was left alone again.

The next time she opened her eyes, she found herself staring upwards at the ceiling. And the usual tangle of pipes and machinery that one could always find in the Fright Zone.

And the ceiling was staring back.

A pair of glowing yellow eyes peered down at her from above, watching her to see how she might react. A small blue hand reached out and grasped one of the pipes, letting the owner of the eyes lean down out of the shadows.

It was a little Hordak, like a toddler-version of the Horde's iconic ruler. Behind him fluttered a little pair of bat wings and clinging to his brow was a curl of hair hanging down.

It was at that moment, Catra realized that there was likely something very wrong with her. This was definitely not normal and she was definitely hallucinating.

You cannot be the one to become She-Ra.

“Who's She-Ra...?” Catra blinked in bewilderment, as she heard her own voice come from the miniature Hordak that was hanging from the ceiling.

She definitely wasn't in her right mind.

And it definitely was a lot easier to simply closer her eyes and not try to unpack this bizarre look into her own fevered brain. After that she had no particular wish to open her eyes ever again. At least, not until things started making sense again.

“Ooooh! Who's responsible for the cleaning around here? Such a mess...”

It seemed like she was going to be waiting a while for things to start making sense again.

But if she kept her eyes closed, she could at least pretend for a little while. She could ignore the shuffling of feet and the wisp of cloth along the floor. She could tune out the mindless song that was being hummed to the time of a broom's bristles scraping along the floor. She did not need to engage with her clearly distorted reality right now.

“Broom? Broom! You get back down here! That's not a place for you!”

Catra was not going to play along.

“Oh, don't make me come up there!...Broom! You get down here this- Oooph!...Now was that so hard. Come on now.”

The cat-girl found herself trying to curl herself up into a tight, little ball, despite the aches and pains that shot through her at the movement. She just wanted to feel better already, and not be dealing with this. She wanted Adora here and to not have to be listening to bizarre, imaginary conversations. She pulled her hands up over her ears and tried to cradle her head, just trying to block things out now.

“Huh? What are you doing like this? It is a very bad time for you to be taking a nap now, Mara.”

“...No...” Catra quietly muttered, hoping saying it aloud might anchor her in the real world just a little.

“Look at you, the big sleepy-head! Is someone not feeling well?”

She curled up even tighter and tried to will her ears to stop twitching at these noises.

“I'm so sorry, dearie...but I know something that might help, eh? Come! Madame Razz will show you.”

Catra just shook her head again, tucked away under her arms as it may have been, refusing to engage. She knew she wasn't well. That much was obvious. If she closed her eyes hard enough, she could just go back to sleep. And by the time she next woke-up, she'd be back in the barracks with Adora close by. She wasn't going to talk to figments of her imagination or-

Thwack!

“Yaa!” Catra let out an embarrassingly shrill sound at the sharp knocking sound, even as she felt it vibrate up through the medical table she had been lying on. That tiny surge of fright cleared the haze enough, as she turned towards the source of the sound, not knowing what to expect.

She certainly didn't expect to find a pair of big, round eyes staring at her through a pair of equally large lenses. Nor did she expect the unruly shock of white hair that was draped around the elderly woman's wizened face. Or the broom that was still resting against her bed, evidently the source of the sound that had shook her.

This was weird. Even for someone that was hallucinating.

“Did Madame Razz finally get through to the sleepy-head?”

“What...?” Catra blurted out, her ears twitching.

“Uggh! You look terrible! Come, come, we've already wasted too much time!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! So, my first fanfic on Archive of our Own. Exciting.
> 
> I'm not new to writing fanfics in general, but I still welcome any and all questions or feedback. Whenever I have the time, I enjoy talking about and answering questions about what I write, why I make my decisions and what I'm trying to bring out of a character or story.
> 
> This is Magicatra fanfic, Catra becoming She-Ra and all that. Little bit light on Catra for a first chapter, so I hope no one's disappointed there. She'll obviously gain more presence as things go along. I intend for this to be a bit of a slowburn, as mentioned in the tags and my chapters tend to be a bit chunky. So they do take a bit of time. And I will be doing some editing passes. Tweaking the writing here-and-there and correcting typos. Any help there is appreciated, as I try to maintain a high standard, but I'm far from perfect.
> 
> Glad to be here, and let's see how this goes.


	2. Rambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein, everyone gets lost in their own thoughts.

Adora couldn't sleep.

That was a lie, she quickly realized, as her body told her that she was quite capable of getting some sleep. She just wasn't willing to sleep. Between her daily exercises, her squad's combat test, the thrill of stealing a skiff for a joyride, and the terror she'd felt while rushing her closest friend to the medical ward the day had taken a lot out of her.

Borrowed. She had borrowed the skiff, Adora reminded herself.

Just another pointless detail she had been fixated on since she'd returned to the cadet barracks. Dozens of what-if questions had been plaguing her already, as she looked back on the last 24 hours, wondering if things could have gone differently. What if she had given Catra more of a chance to shine during the test? What if Adora hadn't offered to take her on that joyride? What if they had taken a different route? What if she hadn't fought over the controls? What if she had found Catra sooner?

What if...

Adora took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, as she leaned back against the metal walls of the corridor she was standing in. She'd been so restless that the others had pretty much demanded that she take it elsewhere. It had been a bit disappointing seeing how unbothered by the situation the others were. Sure Lonnie and the others had asked about Catra's absence, but it wasn't anything more than a cursory curiosity to most of them. Kyle had seemed a bit concerned, and had made a few faltering attempts at being nice about it. Rogelio...

She wasn't entirely sure about Rogelio. But he had patted her on the shoulder, which she took as him being sympathetic.

But after that, it had just been a regular evening for her fellow cadets. Her friends went back to joking and chatting amongst themselves, talking about how the test had gone. Adora didn't want to hold it against them, but couldn't help but be upset about how little anyone else cared about Catra.

Again, not entirely sure with Rogelio.

Tilting her head back, Adora let out another sigh before running her fingers through her hair, her fingers sliding over her distinctive hair poof. Letting her hands drop, she turned a bit before reaching towards her back, unlooping the object she had tucked into her belt before bringing it in front of her.

It was Catra's head guard.

Holding it out in front of her with both hands, she idly used a thumb to brush away at some non-existent bit of dirt along the piece's edge. With everything, with the huge swirl of emotions from earlier, she had forgotten to retrieve it when it fell from Catra's brow. Even after she had left Catra with the doctor, it had only been an afterthought that had compelled her to retrace her steps. It had been with a mix of feelings that she had found it right where it had fallen earlier. Unnoticed, apart from Adora.

She was getting entirely too far inside her own head.

Adora had been told about this before, this little quirk of hers that lead her to over-analyze every little action and detail, after something had gone wrong. In the heat of the moment, she never had much trouble acting quickly, seeing what needed to be done and adapting to the problem. But afterwards, once her mind had time to catch-up, Adora often ended up as freaked-out as anyone else. All that panic that she'd pushed down before to function would rush back in.

It wasn't the first time she'd gotten herself wound up over Catra. And it wasn't the first time that Shadow Weaver had told her to not worry about her friend.

Staring down at her friend's headpiece, Adora idly weighed the pros and cons of going to return it.

After Lord Hordak had heard Catra say that name, he had wasted no time in seeing them to the medical ward. Something about the situation, about that name that Catra muttered, had lent so much urgency to her topmost superior. Something about her friend's whole situation had alarmed him or at least left him fairly concerned. He hadn't seemed the least bit interested in her, after she had handed Catra over to the confused doctor.

Between that and the knowledge that the best course was to likely let Catra rest for the time being, she wasn't sure if she wanted to push her luck with a visit.

Shadow Weaver probably wouldn't approve of her visiting either.

Not that she really felt like trying to earn the sorceress' approval right now. It took her a few moments stewing on that thought to realize that she actually meant it. After everything that had happened though, she probably shouldn't have been surprised by her reaction. Shadow Weaver had refused to listen to a single word Adora had to say, even though it was clearly an emergency.

Shadow Weaver just didn't care, or so it seemed.

Letting out another sigh, Adora looped Catra's head guard back into her belt.

At least Lord Hordak had been willing to listen, had at least acknowledged that there was something wrong. He hadn't exactly been gushing with warmth and compassion, but he had been reasonable. Even when he'd started questioning Catra, something that had left Adora a bit worried, there had at least been a purpose to it. And when it came to the issue of punishments, Lord Hordak didn't try to foist all of the blame off onto Catra and Adora was weirdly pleased to be sharing in some of the blame. Deservedly, at that.

And if Adora was being honest, it had been kind of amazing, seeing Shadow Weaver have to take orders for once. It was probably wrong of her to think that about her own mentor, but seeing the ruler of the Fright Zone rein the sorceress in had been gratifying.

Her mind wandered back to that name from before.

She-Ra.

She'd never heard of any She-Ra before, and personally thought it was a peculiar name, but Lord Hordak's reaction hadn't done much to reassure her. Even Shadow Weaver had stopped with her complaining and had actually seemed to be intrigued at hearing it; though Shadow Weaver being intrigued by anything was probably a bad sign.

She hadn't gotten any more answers, after they'd rushed to the nearest medical bay. Adora had barely been there even a minute, after handing over her friend to the doctor, before Shadow Weaver had ordered her back to the barracks. Given that Hordak hadn't deemed to countermand the order in anyway, she'd hadn't even had time to say goodbye to Catra before hurrying out of the room.

At least the doctor had seemed as concerned as Adora was for Catra. Even if it was just professional interest.

Adora hadn't really had much of a chance to get any answers from the doctor either, though the doctor had peppered her with half-a-dozen questions before she'd been made to leave. She supposed it was a good sign that they'd engaged immediately. The young cadet had bounced between a few different medical bays over the years, for things ranging from regular check-ups to training-related injuries. She could recall a few times when she'd been left in the care of that same doctor, although it had only ever been for routine issues. She'd never really properly introduced herself during any of those routine check-ups or talked about anything other than how she was feeling during those visits, she realized.

“Huh...I'm starting think I'm just bad about getting people's names...” Adora said aloud to herself, as she crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling.

First, that angrily helpful mechanic and now the doctor that was trying to save her best friend. It was really starting to turn into a bad habit she realized.

“...Huh?” Tilting her head, Adora found her attention being drawn to the sound of frantic shuffling down the hall.

It seemed she might get a chance to have a proper introduction after all with the doctor from before. The very same doctor that was supposed to be treating her friend. In the medical bay. Where her friend was. And where the doctor wasn't...

That warranted looking in to.

“Uhm, excuse me!” Adora called out, as she jogged over towards her target and waved to try to get their attention. It wasn't particularly comforting how they seemed to freeze at her approach and refused to turned towards her for a few seconds.

_'She certainly seems tense...'_

“Uh, hi! Do you remember me? I brought my friend in earlier? With Lord Hordak?” Adora helpfully reminded in as friendly a tone as she could manage, trying to keep her worry in check.

“Uhhhmmm...” The petite doctor eventually turned towards her, her hands clasped together and fingers intertwined in front of her “...no.”

“No?”

“That was...a different doctor.” They replied, while seemingly trying to avoid making eye-contact.

Adora had to blink at that, not at all convinced by the explanation. She might not have been able to engage on a personal level with them earlier, but it was definitely a stretch that she could be that mistaken.

The Horde's recruiting standards accepted a pretty diverse crowd, but there weren't that many batfolk in the Horde that one could mix them up. From the pointy, elongated ears and the narrow facial features to the bright yellow eyes and the tufts of fur, it would have been a hard mix-up to make. Even the small doctor's uniform stood out, with the mostly bare arms and the slits along the sides to accommodate her thin wing-like membranes folded at her side. Not that uniform modifications were strictly forbidden, but it was something that stood out.

The point was, there couldn't be that many doctors in the Fright Zone that matched that description.

“Okay...this is a bit embarrassing. I never really got your name before?” Adora pressed, as she pointedly arched an eyebrow for the good doctor.

“You know...I really should be getting back to my patient...” The doctor hedged, as she started to back away.

“You mean Catra? Is something wrong?”

“No! No, she's fine!”

“Aha! I just outwitted you!” Adora exclaimed triumphantly, before pausing and seeming to think that over “...Oh, wow. I just outwitted you.”

“I- Uh, I don't really know what you-” The doctor hesitantly began in a squeaky voice, twiddling her long fingers in front of her as she slowly tried to back away.

“Don't give me that! You just said that it was a different doctor from before!” The cadet exclaimed, remembering that there were more important things than her own cleverness to be focused on.

“No, see- What I meant-”

“And then you said you had to go check on your patient!”

“I do have to-”

“And then you admitted that Catra was your patient, when you said she was fine!”

“I-I-”

“Which means you _were_ the same doctor from before!”

“...”

Adora had to pause for a moment, before visibly thinking that through again. Bringing a hand up to her chin, she briefly counted off the steps with her fingers, as she went over everything in her head again.

“And then I...yeah, that all tracks. Huh, good for me.” She finally nodded to herself. The young cadet had to give a shake of her head, before pointing another accusing finger towards the doctor “So...tell me what's really going on with Catra!”

“I can explain...” The diminutive batfolk eventually said, her shoulders bunched up as she stared anxiously up at Adora.

“...Oh my gosh! Something happened to Catra!” Adora blurted out, as the implications of the conversation finally caught up with her. Quickly taking the already stressed doctor by the shoulders and pulling her closer, she began pleading with her “What happened?! Is Catra alright?!”

The poor physician hesitated a few moments, her eyes darting down to where Adora had grabbed her, before tucking her head down further and squeaking out a reply.

“As far as I know?”

“...As far as you know?!”

* * *

“That's right, kitty, just do like Madame Razz is doing.”

Catra's eyes fluttered, as she struggled to focus on whatever approximation of the real-world she was stuck in at the moment. Trying to ignore the unshakable floating sensation she was dealing with, she tried to make sense of what she was seeing once more.

“There you go! Up and down, up and down...”

Catra was having a lot of trouble with that goal, as it looked like reality was largely made up of owl-eyed old ladies flapping their jaws at her.

“Wha- Ah don' know-...wha is-” It took her a moment to realize that her slurred speech had less to do with whatever ailment she was suffering, and more to do with the two hands firmly clasped around her face. Blinking, it finally clicked for her that the elderly crone's fingers were awkwardly pushing her jaw in a chewing motion.

Her reaction was understandable.

Letting out a shrill cry, she quickly batted away the calloused hands away from her face, as she tried to get back. Which, while understandable, wasn't the most prudent of courses, as she soon found herself stumbling backwards, her arms flailing about. Having absolutely no idea of where she was and still not feeling so hot, Catra soon stumbled over backwards with all the grace of a sack of ration bars.

“Gyahh-Oomph!” Flopping onto her back, her head lolled about from side-to-side, as her whole body protested her little tumble. Groaning she tried to bring a hand up to cradle her head, but only managed to lightly slap herself in the face.

“What are you doing, kitty?! You can't afford a head injury right now!”

A few moments later, Catra could feel those same old, but strong, hands at her back and shoulder, helping her to lean forward into something like a sitting position. Exhaling from the effort of it, Catra found herself catching her breath, even as the old lady propped her up with one hand and lightly felt her head over. All in all, she was too confused, too tired, and in too much pain to really object, as she looked over the strange woman once more.

“Are-are you real?”

“What?...What kind of silly is question is that?” The bizarre old lady asked, before squinting at Catra through her thick glasses. Giving a tilt of her head, before lightly poking Catra in the head “Huuh, maybe you did bump your head, Mara.”

“I-...I'm not-...” Catra stumbled for a few seconds, wondering if she really was this 'Mara' she kept hearing about. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to sort out her thoughts once more, before realizing something else was off. Moving her jaw around for a moment, she eventually started prodding the inside of her cheeks with her tongue.

“...Is there something in my mouth? Why is-” Realizing that, yes, there was some weird mix of stringy textures and bitter tastes in her mouth, she naturally brought a hand up to her mouth. Only to let out a small squeal, when the old lady slapped her hand away lightly.

“Hey! What are you-”

“Uh-uh. Remember what Madame Razz told you, kitty.” The hunched over elder, Madame Razz, lightly admonished, as she wagged a finger in front of Catra's face.

“I- Remember what?” Her eyes following after the finger in front of her.

“What Madame Razz told you, of course!”

“That's not helpful.” Catra griped, feeling a bit of her usual attitude returning.

“What? Of course, it's helpful! Look at you, you even have both eyes open now!” Madame Razz exclaimed, gesturing excitedly with her hands once more. A moment later, Razz threw her hands up in the air, before waving towards Catra with a 'Feh!' of annoyance “What is it with kids these days? So ungrateful...”

Closing her eyes again, Catra slowly brought her hands to her forehead and tried to rub away some of her consternation and wooziness. She had to stop, flinching as the slow movement caused a shoot of pain to travel up her right arm. Cradling her arm for a few moments, she waited for the ache to subside, before opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings.

The cat-girl was briefly transfixed, as she watched a bright, almost luminescent moth flutter past her face, before landing on a nearby log. Looking down at herself, she found that she wasn't lying down on some padded medical table, but a tangle of roots and light foliage. Bracing herself with her left hand on the ground, she panned around to see herself surrounded by towering trees that lead up to a canopy so thick she couldn't tell if it was day or night right now.

“...How long was I out?” Catra asked aloud, more to herself than her strange companion.

“Eh, basically the whole time I've known you.” Madame Razz casually replied, with a wave of her hand. Pausing, the old woman tilted her head upwards, before bringing a hand to her chin in thought “Wait...does that sound right to you, Mara?”

Catra gave another shake of her head at that, which honestly did very little to clear her thoughts anymore than they already had been. More carefully bringing her injured right hand to her face, she gingerly felt at her forehead, only to find herself wiping away beads of sweat.

“Where-...Where's Adora?”

“What's that now, kitty?”

“Adora...she's my-”

“Feh! Stop worrying about Adora, she is a smart girl.” Madame Razz easily waved the question away, as she again crouched down at Catra's side. After a moment's thought, she held up a hand before waving it one way then the other “Eh, most of the time. She'll be fine.”

“No, she-...she should still be nearby...” Catra said, even as she tried to get her feet under her. After a couple of shaky attempts, she started managing to stand-up, as the strange old woman once more reached out to steady her.

“Ahhh, see? And you were worried. Medicine is starting to work.” Madame Razz noted happily, as she looked up to the still somewhat unbalanced Catra. Without pause, she easily took Catra's hand in her own and started to lightly pull her along “Come, come! Medicine will only help for so long. And remember what I said.”

“I still don't-” Catra began, before letting out an annoyed grunt, as Madame Razz pulled her with her. Struggling to keep up, she still couldn't help but notice how heavy her feet felt, as she tried to move them along.

“She-...she's going to be looking for me...” Catra muttered out, even as she tried to focus on not tripping over the next pile of roots.

“I know, Mara. I know.”

“I'm not-...why am I trying to argue?” The cat-girl groaned after a moment.

“Madame Razz was wondering that too.” The hermit replied easily, even as she pushed aside a low hanging branch to pass under.

“Where-...” Catra had to pause, as Madame Razz's surprisingly strong hands once more guided her, ducking her head under the branch. Sparing it a glance, she turned back “...Where are you taking me?”

“To She-Ra. So that you can get better.”

“What's-”

You must return to the sword. You must abdicate.

The next moment that she could recall, she was on her knees staring down at the ground through blurry eyes. It took her a moment to catch the sound of her own heavy breathing, as the strange vision faded. She felt her whole world shaking for a moment, until she saw the bizarre, elderly woman slip back into her field of vision.

“It's okay. You're still here, kitty. It's alright...” Madame Razz soothed, as she knelt down beside Catra, taking a moment to rub her back and help brace her.

“The-...sword? You're taking me back to the sword?” Catra gasped out, as her breathing steadily became more stable, even as the image of said sword faded from her mind.

“She-Ra is not a sword, kitty.”

The way the old woman said it gave her pause, compared to all of the flighty ramblings that she had endured so far; those words carried weight to them somehow. Compared to everything else that she only now half-remembered, those words felt oddly grounded. She couldn't help but look up towards the strange crone, wondering what she meant.

“I don't under-...” Catra began, before trailing off, as Madame Razz placed a hand firmly against her chest. It was both startling and weirdly comforting as a gesture, and it seemed to help settle her remaining nerves, in spite of the situation.

“She-Ra is a choice.”

“We're...looking for a choice?”

“Yes, Mara...” Madame Razz said with a warm smile for the girl. Holding her gaze for a few seconds, the hermit gave a tilt of her head, before holding a finger up to the air “Oh...and also a sword.”

And the spell was broken.

"Now, now, come, come. Let us get you on your feet.” Madame Razz soon was getting Catra to stand back up. Taking the confused girl's hand again, she gave a nod “We have a schedule to keep!”

“I...honestly can't tell which of us is crazier.” Catra bluntly told the older woman.

“It is a fun guessing game, isn't it?”

* * *

“How do you lose someone that can barely walk?!”

“If I knew that, I wouldn't have done it!”

Adora was starting to think that it might not be best to have two people that were panicking working on the same project. She had at least managed to keep her wits about her well enough to remember to get the doctor's name. Not that it had been much comfort to Nocturnia, or Noxie as she preferred.

She was a little proud of that.

After having, very cleverly, deduced that Catra was missing, Adora had taken up the frantic search for her missing friend with the doctor. Which quickly lead to a lot of concerned glances and questioning stares being sent their way by people passing through the halls. Seeing how fruitless that was turning out, and how close it seemed they were getting to someone finding out that Catra was gone, she had suggested a different tact.

Lord Hordak seemed surprisingly reasonable. But he was also pretty scary, which was kind of a given, seeing how easily he had cowed Shadow Weaver of all people. And she wasn't sure what might happen to poor Noxie if they didn't find Catra before he found out.

As upset as Adora was, she wasn't prepared to immediately hang the physician out to dry.

So, they managed to rush back to the medical bay without raising too many eyebrows, in the hopes that they might be able to find some clues about what had happened.

“Alright, alright! Us freaking out isn't helping! Let's just take a breath here...” Adora finally said, leaning back up from below the table she'd been searching. Holding her hands out in front of her, she turned towards Noxie “Let's just calm down and take a deep breath...”

“I really don't think we have time for breathing right now...” The batfolk fretted, even as she closed a cabinet that she'd already checked twice before.

“Nope! We just- We need to calm down and think about this rationally.” Adora firmly asserted for her new acquaintance. Walking over and making sure she made eye contact “So, let's just breath in...”

Despite fidgeting for a few moments, Noxie did eventually manage to take a deep, almost steady breath in at Adora's insistence.

“And then...we breath out.” Adora said, holding the breath for a couple of seconds, before demonstrating. It wasn't too reassuring seeing the doctor's breathing hitch and catch in her chest for a couple of seconds, before she eventually followed suit.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmngh...”

It was less a calming exhale, and more a very tense moan of nervousness.

“Alright...let's forget trying to calm down.” Adora said after a moment, to which Noxie quickly nodded. Pausing to rub at her temples for a moment, the cadet gestured towards her again “Alright, let's just...walk me through it again.”

“Okay, okay, let me think...” Noxie said with another nod.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...How much thinking do you need to do?!”

“I was thinking through everything I could remember!”

“Can't you skip some parts?”

“That would defeat the point!”

“Alright, alright...deep breath...when did Catra disappear?” Adora offered, trying to steady her own nerves as much as Noxie's.

The doctor finally gave a nod at that, taking another deep breath of her own “When I stepped out. It was just for a minute.”

“And why did you step out?”

“I...needed to check a problem with the power. The power was flickering and I was trying to monitor the patient's brain activity and it was making things difficult.”

“Wait, you can do that?” Adora blurted out, before giving a shake of her head and focusing back on the matter at hand “Never mind. How long were you gone?”

“Just a couple of minutes!”

“And Catra wasn't in any condition to leave on her own, right?”

“I- No. You already asked me that.”

“Right. But if she couldn't just walk away on her own...” Adora started to reason, trailing off before sharing a meaningful look with the physician. There was an obvious explanation for how someone who was barely even conscious could leave an area in so short a time. It was also the only reasonable way to explain how no one would have seen the barely functioning Catra leaving.

“Someone kidnapped my patient...” Noxie finally concluded, bringing her hands to her face as the realization sank in. Letting out a whimper, the batfolk slowly crouched down, till she was nearly a curled up ball of worry “...How could I let that happen?

“Okay, okay! We don't know that Catra was kidnapped.” Adora quickly reasoned, trying to calm her companion down “Someone might have just been helping her...go somewhere else...”

“While she lacked the mental capacity to give consent, without permission from her doctor, and almost certainly against the will of Lord Hordak?” Noxie asked without standing back up, her pointed ears twitching.

“Okay, she may have been kidnapped...” Adora conceded after a moment, before stepping closer and taking a knee. Setting a hand on the doctor's shoulder to get her attention “...but if that's the case?”

Noxie looked up, before visibly trying to swallow down her worry as she realized what Adora was getting at.

“We need to alert security. Organize a search. And we need to inform Lord-...” Noxie trailed off.

“We need to tell Lord Hordak.” Adora finished for her, with a nod. With that firm declaration, she ushered the doctor back to her feet again “Which...is kind of scary to think about.”

Noxie gave another quick nod at that.

“But, Lord Hordak seems like he might listen and I'm sure-”

“Doctor!”

“That was a different doctor!”

Adora found herself staring in shock, looking upon the small doctor that was now cowering behind her extended wing flaps. Naturally, that wasn't the part that was the problem, as she slowly panned her gaze to the communicator screen on the nearby terminal. And the face that had abruptly appeared on said screen.

Lord Hordak.

To Noxie's credit, she quickly re-furled up her wings, before standing at attention with a look of utter mortification and worry. Adora herself found herself briefly frozen as she stared back at Lord Hordak's image, and it was only when he ever so slightly turned his attention towards her that she too stood at attention. A moment later she quickly threw in a salute for good measure.

There was a pregnant pause as Lord Hordak took in the sight of them, both standing rigidly at attention, both visibly reeking of anxiety and nervousness. There was a faltering moment, where Adora clenched her hands and considered trying to speak up, to begin explaining the situation. But it took all she could just to keep looking the ruler of the Horde is his burning eyes, as he visibly scrutinized them. Passing his gaze between the two of them, he seemed to pick apart every little detail hidden between the two of them; from the corner of Adora's gaze, she could see Noxie wilting under the pressure. The could be no doubt in her mind that Lord Hordak realized something was wrong.

The ruler of the Fright Zone narrowed his gaze.

“What. Happened?”

* * *

Chew. Don't swallow.

That was a weird thought to wake-up to. And Catra was entirely tired of waking up to weird things by this point.

Head hanging forward, it took her a moment to realize what it was that had awoken her, even as she opened her eyes. Blinking her mismatched eyes a couple of times, she struggled to process the sight of the colors flapping at the end of her nose. Cross-eyed, she stared in utter confusion at the moth as it rested, before it gave another gentle flap of its wings.

This prompted her to give a very uncute sneeze. It also prompted her to flop over backwards over the log she'd been sitting on, as she flailed her arms about.

“Nnnnngh...What is wrong with me?” Catra groaned, as she stared up into the trees, her head pounding again.

Struggling for a moment, she managed to slowly bring her legs over the log, before taking another breather. Clenching her eyes shut, she tried to will herself into feeling just a little bit better, before giving up. Exhaling slowly, she slowly reached out before digging her claws into the log she'd fallen over. With that in her grasp, she carefully dragged herself up into a sitting position.

The crazy old lady was gone.

_'Or maybe she never existed...'_

Honestly, Catra wasn't even sure if she was really conscious this time, or if this was just another layer in the weird fever dreams that seemed to be her life right now. For all she could realistically be certain of, she could be tossing-and-turning in a Horde medbay. Or she could be collapsed in some bush, after smacking her head into a tree branch. Or maybe she was asleep in her bunk, and the day hadn't even started.

Or maybe it all really happened, and the world was even crazier than she was right now. And there was only one way she could begin to figure it out.

“Hnnn...crazy old lady?” Catra eventually called out, even as she cradled her head. Blinking a couple of times to clear her vision, she looked around for her maybe-imaginary-companion “Were you...real?”

Just more of the colorful little bugs from earlier, lightly fluttering around her.

“Uggh...of course you weren't real...” She groaned, feeling embarrassed for even kinda hoping the owl-eyed elder might show up again.

The idea that some strange old woman would come out of nowhere just to be nice to her and help her when she wasn't feeling well should have been a huge tip-off. No one was ever just _nice_ to her. Though now that she thought about it, even if the old lady had been real, it would only make sense that she would just leave Catra in the woods. People leaving her behind at the first opportunity was the most realistic thing she could possibly imagine.

Though that did remind her.

“A-...Adora!” Catra let out a raspy cough, as she called out her friend's name. Wincing as she cleared her throat, she leaned her head back “Adora! Are you...out there?”

No answer.

Which could really mean just about anything at this point, she reminded herself. Adora could be too far away. This could all just be another hallucination. Adora could have left her behind.

Catra's face fell at that.

She remembered the skiff now. When they'd been arguing over the controls, even as the trees zipped by, she'd turned just in time to see a tree branch coming straight at her.

Maybe Adora just left without her.

Or maybe she was hurt. It was just as reasonable an explanation that Adora could have fallen out of the skiff too. It would hardly be a surprise if Adora was still walking off a blow to the head herself, her thick skull not withstanding. Adora could be flopped over somewhere in the woods with her own hallucinations keeping her company, just like Catra.

Some quiet part of her realized how messed up it was, that she was hoping that Adora was hurt. It was a lot less painful an idea than the thought that Adora might have just flown off without her.

“Maybe, I should just stay here. Wait for someone to come...” Catra said to herself, as she closed her eyes again, still feeling tired and sore. Maybe it was one of those dreams where the only way to really wake up was to fall asleep in the dream.

One of her ears twitched.

That alone was enough to put Catra on edge. She wasn't even sure if she'd really heard anything, but could feel her ears turning towards something. Snapping her eyes open, and then having to close them before opening them again slower, she started trying to turn to look at whatever ghost sound had gotten her attention.

“Is someone there? Ador-...” Catra stopped herself, before she called out for her friend again. She wasn't even sure why, apart from maybe not wanting to get her own hopes up.

Taking in a deep breath, she turned before moving to sink her claws into the log she'd been leaning against, using it to brace herself as she tried to stand again. Wincing, she had to stop as a dull pain once again shot up her right arm. It seemed that she hadn't been imagining that, at least. Growling a bit with the effort, she put most of her weight on her left arm, as she forced her legs under her.

She almost felt herself fall, as she let out the breath she'd been holding, even as she started seeing dark spots creep in at the edges of her vision. Taking in several shorter breaths, the darkness managed to recede a bit, enough that she was able to take a couple of halting steps. Reaching her first destination, she leaned up against a massive tree, as she tried to take in her progress.

She was almost entirely out-of-reach of the log.

As disappointed as she was with her unimpressive progress, it still wasn't so much of a distraction, that she didn't catch the sound of a twig snapping off in the distance. Or at least that's what she thought she was hearing, as she turned her head, and ears, towards the woods.

“Uh...crazy old lady?” Catra called out far too quietly for anyone to realistically hear her. Swallowing down her anxiety, she watched the trees, not sure what she could expect.

Return to the sword.

“What?!” Catra yelped, as she pushed away from the tree and looked around frantically.

She remembered that voice.

It was the only thing she could recall clearly from the last however long it had been since this all started. That same intrusion into her thoughts that kept telling her to go back to the sword, to give it up.

That it belonged to Adora.

It was meant for Adora.

She had to take in several more breaths to calm herself, even as she slumped back against her tree, not sure what she had done to deserve this. Not that it ever mattered what she deserved. She couldn't trust the voices in her own head, she couldn't trust her memories, she couldn't trust her ears, she couldn't even trust her own eyes.

Which might have been why it took so long for her to register the flickering light that was shining through the brush.

“Adora...?” She wasn't sure why she thought this might lead her back to her friend. But then, she wasn't sure of anything.

Make contact with the sword.

Catra pushed herself back into her tree, her ears flattening against her head, as another thought that wasn't her own sounded in her mind.

This can only be fixed if you return to the sword.

Blinking at that thought, Catra hesitated for only a few moments, wondering how she could possibly consider listening to the unidentified voice in her head. But thus far, it had already offered her more hope than any of the other things she'd imagined so far. Slowly, she pushed away from the dubious safety of her tree and started to stumble towards the strange light.

You cannot be She-Ra.

She-Ra is a choice.

She wasn't sure what was real at this point, but on some level she knew this was the only way forward. Even if going forward meant stumbling through bushes and tripping over roots, she couldn't think of any other options. And there was an urgency, that seemed to be matched by the way the bright light she was chasing was flickering. It was like staring into one of the old ceiling lights in the Fright Zone that perpetually needed replacing.

One moment she was chasing a bright beacon through the woods and the next she was left in the dark.

And then she was in a clearing.

The same clearing as before. The same gnarled trees. The same sword being held in the grasp of twisting roots.

Almost the same.

It took her a moment to realize, as she slowly inched forward, that the light she was following seemed to emanate from the sword. And beyond that, the blade of the sword itself seemed to be flickering. It never lost its shape, but the glow emanating from it blinked and seemed to almost be glitching.

You must make contact. The mistake must be undone.

“What do we do?”

Catra stumbled forward, before catching herself, and casting her gaze back upon the woods she'd just came from.

“Who's there?!”

Her breathing hitched, as she tried to find the source of the words, even as she briefly wondered if they were as imagined as everything else. Wide-eyed she held that pose for several seconds, before the adrenaline began to fade again, and she lowered her claws, just now realizing she'd been ready to swipe at nothing.

You must not wait. You must abdicate your claim.

Catra winced, as the voice rang out in her head again, more insistent than before. Turning away from whatever imagined noises were plaguing her, she focused back on the sword, even as she grumbled.

“I told you, I don't know-”

“Hiiiyaaaah!!”

Catra had been very ready to chalk-up the sight of the strangely dressed girl suddenly appearing out of a cloud of sparkles up to her imagination.

Then that girl tackled her in the gut.

“Glimmer!”

“I got her!”

Looking up once more into the canopy up above, the cat-girl again wondered why she couldn't just wake-up from this bizarre dream. Groaning, Catra found herself staring up into yet another face that wasn't Adora's. And once more she wasn't entirely sure of how of much of what she was seeing was accurate.

Most people she'd run into, whether Catra was awake or asleep, weren't this sparkly.

“Bow! What are you doing just standing there? Get the sword!”

Catra briefly found herself trying to turn her head at the sound of footsteps as they passed close by and caught sight of Sparkles' companion out of the corner of her eye. It was a bit hard processing, from her perspective, but he seemed to be showing a lot of his midriff off.

“Uhhh, I think I gonna pass on that for now.”

“Wha- You can't pass on that! You're the one that tracked it down!”

“I didn't think it would be glitching out when we found it!”

“Well, we can't just leave it here!”

“I'm not saying that-”

“How can my headache be getting worse...?” Catra finally grumbled, which seemed to remind the two of them of her presence. Soon she had both of them filling up her vision, as they looked down upon her with a mix of curiosity and concern.

“She doesn't look so good...”

Sparkles seemed almost ready to agree with her companion's assessment, when she seemed to be reminded of something and hardened her gaze. A moment later, the girl was slipping her arms under Catra's own and trying to lift her off the ground. It certainly wasn't as if Catra was in any state to resist at the moment, so it wasn't exactly a challenge.

“It doesn't matter. She's with the Horde. Which makes her our prisoner.”

“I guess. But I'm pretty sure that makes her our responsibility.”

“We'll deal with that later.” Sparkles declared, as she waved off her friend's concern. Or at least, tried to as she half-dragged Catra away from the sword.

“Probably shouldn't be dragging our prisoner across the ground either.”

“Well, if you would help, I wouldn't have to drag her!” The strange girl snapped, as she seemed to struggle with the task. Though if Catra was being honest, she wasn't really in much of a state to complain about being dragged anywhere. All the same, the boy seemed to come over and help finish the task.

A few moments later, Catra again found herself sitting up against a fallen log, her head lolling about as she tried to figure out just what had happened.

“Alright, Horde scum! Tell us what you're doing out here!” Sparkles suddenly demanded, even as she grasped the front of Catra's uniform to pull her forward.

“Whoa! Maybe go easy on her, Glimmer. She still seems kind of out of it.”

“She's probably just acting that way to avoid answering any questions.” The girl, Glimmer, pointed out to her friend. Turning back towards Catra, she seemed to be putting on her toughest face “What is it? Are you on some sort of mission?”

Catra managed to shake her head and get her eyes to focus again, as she looked up at her supposed captors. It took her a few moments to process the question, and a few more moments for the words to actually make sense to her.

“Pretty sure I asked you first...”

“What? No you didn't!”

“Then what's the problem...?” Catra mumbled, as she started to slump forward a bit. Letting out a quiet gurgle, she started cradling her stomach and wincing, pain starting to emanate out from where the other girl had tackled her “Nngh...I don't feel so great.”

“Not sure if you're going to get much out of her like this, Glimmer.”

“We'll see about that!” Glimmer declared, before leaning her captive back upright a bit roughly. Catra's head flopping backwards, she watched uncertainly as the girl tried to wave her finger in her face “This is your last chance, Horde-”

“Bleerccch!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Sparkles cried out as she stumbled away, trying to wipe Catra's vomit off of her frantically.

“Ooooh...that might be another reason to hold off on the interrogation.” Bow noted from the side with a tone of awkward sympathy.

“It's slipping down into my boots!”

Catra blinked as she leaned back against her log, as the last of her heaving subsided, feeling a bit better after literally getting that out of her system. Still feeling drained by it, she closed her eyes again, as she recalled Madame Razz's earlier attempts at warning her.

“...chew, don't swallow. Kinda makes sense now...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, 2nd Chapter! Ran into a few formatting issues when I was posting this, so hopefully it didn't look too weird for the first few minutes it was up. Should mostly be fixed by now. 
> 
> Already being a bit surprised by the direction the writing takes me, as I'm already revising my chapters as I write them, trying to make sure they fit together just right. And look! An OC! Kind of a habit of mine, anytime I need a character for more than a couple of scenes to make them into an actual character. Chalk it up to years of running D&D games. Anyone you'll probably see characters like this in my work pop-up, whenever I need to roundout the cast. Great show, but there was more of an emphasis on a limited number of characters, and not all of the existing characters can fit in the needed roles. I'll try to make sure I don't give them too much of the spotlight, as I know that can be offputting. Let me know if I overdo it, and I'll try to adjust.
> 
> I'll more than likely be doing a couple more editing passes. I just wanted to get this up, as I seemed to have generated some interest. And I know what it's like waiting for a story to update. And as always, I look forward to any comments or questions.


	3. Embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein, everyone gets a grip.

This was not going how Bow had hoped.

He had simply been trying to be a good friend, hoping to offer up Glimmer a chance at proving herself, with what he had thought would be a relatively simple journey. Just grab Glimmer, follow the tracker pad, grab the artifact, and take it back to Brightmoon. His best friend gets a chance to show that she's capable and they bring back something that could truly help the Rebellion.

He really should have known it wouldn't go that smoothly. But Bow couldn't have really known just how not-smoothly things were going to go.

“Just try to calm down, Glimmer!”

“That's easy for you to say! You didn't just get barfed on by the enemy!” His princess friend snapped, even as she was struggling to yank off one of her boots.

“Okay, fair.” Bow conceded with a tilt of his head. Even granting that, he soon gestured back to their captive “But still, I really don't think she did it on purpose.”

“Ohhh, we'll see about that! We'll- Oooph!” Glimmer cut herself off, as her boot finally came free and she stumbled over. Straightening back up, she was soon waving her soiled footwear towards their prisoner “If you think you're just gonna-”

“I think she passed out.” Bow cut-in, even as he took a knee by their Horde soldier.

“Wait, what?...Oh.” That actually seemed to take the wind out of Glimmer's sails for the moment, as she lowered her boot. Furrowing her brow, she soon turned her attention back to cleaning herself up “I didn't hit her that hard.”

“I don't think that's it.” The archer noted, even as he tried to assess the condition of their captive. Bow was no medical expert, but even he could tell she didn't look so great. Brushing aside the girl's unkempt hair, he tried placing the back of his hand against her forehead.

“She's burning up. I think she might really be sick.”

“I-...Are you sure? What if she just runs hotter than normal?” Glimmer offered, trying not to feel too concerned. And it was a valid point, as there were a lot of different kinds of people across the world. What was normal for some could be terrible for others.

“She seemed pretty out of it, even before you tackled her.” Bow replied with a shake of his head.

“Well, what was I supposed to do?!”

“I'm not saying it's your fault!” Bow quickly held up his hands, at his friend's defensive reaction. Bunching up his shoulders, he gestured back towards the cat-girl “Just the opposite. I think she may have already been in a bad way before we found her.”

“Oh...” Glimmer again found herself faltering a bit, at Bow's well-reasoned points. Frowning to herself, she used the bottom of her shoe to scrape the mess off on her leg “She still could've warned me that she was about to throw-up.”

Bow considered pointing out that their prisoner did try to give them a small warning before she emptied the contents of her stomach, but thought better of it. Glimmer probably didn't want to hear that right now, just as she was using a loose twig to scrape the mess out of the inside of her boot.

“We're probably going to need to take her to see a healer at some point.” Bow noted, as he idly checked over the cat-girl, looking for any causes for her poor health. Seeing the girl shift when he touched her arm, prompted him to check further “Hmm, what happened to her...?”

“Fine. We'll find someone on the way back to Brightmoon then.” Glimmer declared, as she finished shaking out her boot and began to slip it back on. Having an easier time getting it on than getting it off, she still gave a bit of a huff as she stood up “Uuughh! Still feels gross...”

“Sorry. I really don't think she meant for that to happen.” The archer replied, with a note of sympathy, as he glanced back towards her.

“Tch! Whatever...” The young princess griped, as she shifted her foot around some more. Crossing her arms, she looked back towards their captive “We can probably find someone to take a look at her in Thaymor. It's on the way anyway.”

“Should we really be moving her though?”

“We don't have much of a choice, Bow! We can't stay here, and we've got to take...” Glimmer briefly paused, as she glanced back towards the strange sword, before gesturing towards it “...this thing back to show my mother.”

“I suppose...” Bow had to concede, as he turned his attention towards the sword too.

He hadn't really known what to expect when he had picked up the signal, other than it being something worth investigating. The signal alone had raised some questions for him, as he'd been tracking it, as the strength of the signal sporadically faded in-and-out. Looking at the sword now, and how its light seemed to flicker, fade, and shift before his eyes, his readings were starting to make more sense. But what was it? Was it broken? Did it have anything to do with the Horde soldier?

“Right. So, I guess you can deal with her...since she hasn't barfed on you yet.” Glimmer declared with some mild bitterness, not being privy to Bow's thoughts and ready to forge ahead “I'll carry the sword.”

“Sounds fair. I'll probably need you to carry my things.” He replied, as he turned his attention back towards their captive. Checking her arm again, he turned over her wrist as he went back to checking for injuries “Wait, is this a burn...?”

“Well, I'm pretty sure it's going to take forever to get the smell out of-” Glimmer started to reply, as she started to reach out towards the sword.

“Hold on! Don't touch-” He was perhaps just a second too late with his warning, as Glimmer wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the sword.

The light that seemed to emanate out from the blade paused for just a moment, before surging in brightness. It seemed to fill the whole clearing with its intensity, even as the light seemed to dance. Just as it became almost too bright to look upon the light rapidly faded, before it seemed to glitch wildly, the blade resembling his tracker pad's screen when it was on the fritz. There was another brief surge of red light that seemed to creep down the blade like snakes down a tree. All of this accompanied by a distant, static-like sound that rose in volume as the weapon became more and more frantic.

And then it was quiet and still.

The light was gone and the blade was a dull, depressing gray now. Even the gold of the hilt and the embedded crystal seemed to have faded.

“Uhhh...what just happened?” Glimmer finally asked as she stared down at the sword, apparently no worse for wear after all of that.

Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Bow quickly rushed over and pulled his best friend away from the strange sword, not certain of what might happen next.

“Are you alright?!” He quickly asked in a more than slightly panicked tone, as he checked to make sure she was well "It didn't burn you, did it? How do you feel?!"

“I, uh-...I think I'm fine.” Glimmer eventually declared, as she blinked a couple of times, before patting herself down to be sure.

Bow had to let out a huge sigh of relief at that.

“Okay...” Bow said, as he took a couple of moments to compose himself. Taking a step back, he held up his hands “Alright, let's just make it a new rule to not just grab any ancient artifacts we find with our bare hands from now on.”

“Bow, I'm fine!” Glimmer had to reiterate, likely feeling as if he too now was being overly-protective, not unlike her mother.

“But what if you hadn't been fine?!”

The princess gave a dramatic sigh at that.

“And let's add another rule, while we're at it.” The archer decided, as he held up a finger to draw her attention. He then placed his hands on his hips in as authoritative manner as he could manage “If someone shouts 'Don't touch' we all just immediately refrain from touching _anything_.”

“...Are you finished?” Glimmer asked with a tilt of her head.

“...Pretty much. For now.” He replied, glancing to the side.

“Great! So can we figure out what just happened?” She asked, while gesturing towards their now seemingly out-of-order artifact.

Bow had to let out another sigh at his friend's ambivalent reaction to the ancient glowing sword freaking out in her grip. Granted, he had to admit to himself that she was right, that it would probably be a good start to figure out just what had happened. Turning back towards the sword and taking in the sight of it, as it now just sat where it was planted, he had to admit he was curious too. The strange, otherworldly glow from before was gone and the blade itself seemed drab and lifeless. There were too many unknowns at this point to say what had happened, though he did have one idea.

“Hold on, let me check something...” Bow said aloud, before taking a knee and pulling out his tracker pad.

As he turned it on and started fiddling with the settings, Glimmer wasted no time in coming over to peak over his shoulder.

“It's exactly what I thought.” Bow eventually declared, as he held up his tracker pad to the sword.

“What is it?”

“Earlier, when I was tracking the signature from the sword, it was constantly going in-and-out. Like the signal was weak or glitching out.” Bow explained for her, gesturing to his pad. Looking back up to her pointedly “Just like how we found the sword glitching randomly.”

“Okay, makes sense...”

“And now, the sword seems completely lifeless. And the signal just cut-out too.”

“So...wait. Did I just break it or something?” Glimmer asked, concerned that their whole trip might have been for nothing.

“I don't think so. I think it might have just...turned off?” Bow hesitantly offered up with a shrug.

The young princess furrowed her brow at that in thought, before looking towards the sword “But...why would it do that when I touched it?”

“I'm not sure.” Bow admitted, as he tucked his tracker pad away once more. Standing up, he then gestured back behind them “But, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with her.”

“Her? What does she have to do with this?” Glimmer demanded, as she gestured back to their unconscious prisoner.

“Still not really sure, but come check this out...” Bow beckoned as he stood and moved back over towards the prone cat-girl. Crouching down, he gently turned over the girl's palm to show her what he had found.

“...I don't get it.” Glimmer blurted out.

“I found this...mark, just as you were about to grab the sword.”

“So? It looks like she burned her hand.”

“Just look at it.” Bow eventually implored, before gesturing for her to take a closer look “Doesn't it look a bit familiar. And it doesn't look like a normal burn. It's too...regular.”

Seeing his point now, Glimmer seemed to consider that before looking back over towards the dormant sword and its hilt “You think she might have grabbed the sword too?”

“Maybe. Only something _obviously_ different happened if she grabbed it.” He elaborated, before setting their captive's arm back down “And I think it might be connected to why she's like this.”

“I don't know, Bow...” Glimmer confessed, as she brought a hand up to her forehead as she considered all of this “...that's kind of a lot.”

“I get it. I'm just working with what I see here.” Bow agreed, willing to admit that he was trying to slap a lot of different things together into one working theory. Rubbing at the back of his head, he gave Glimmer a shrug “I could be completely wrong. Who knows?”

The young princess frowned at that, before seeming to admit to herself that she didn't have any better explanation “Well...it doesn't really change anything. We still need to take her and the sword to-”

“Mmrrng...”

Bow quickly turned his attention back towards their captive, as she started to stir, with Glimmer moving a few steps closer but still holding back. Perhaps she didn't want to risk anymore accidents, like the one that had dripped into her boot. Leaning in, as the cat-girl started to flutter her eyes, he slowly waved his hand in front of her to try to get her to focus.

“Are you with us? Try to take it easy.”

Their Horde prisoner blinked a couple more times, as she stared up at him, before her gaze started to wander. Bow couldn't help but notice that her attempts at blinking seemed a bit uneven, with one eyelid following the other. She still seemed pretty out of it. But she was conscious, and she seemed to at least be trying to make sense of things.

“Uhhh...crap...am I still here?”

“How are you feeling?”

The cat-girl seemed to blink a few more times, as she tried to focus her attention on him. After finally seeming to process the situation, she flopped her head back in frustration, before letting out a groan “Come on...not again...”

“Uhhhh, sorry. I'm not really following.” Bow admitted.

“Please tell me you're not with that weird old lady...?”

“...No? Not really sure we know anyone that meets that description.” Bow told her, before leaning back a bit to give her some space. Gesturing first to himself and then to his friend “I'm Bow and this is Glimmer. We-”

“Bow!”

“What?”

“You can't just give the enemy our names! That's valuable intel.” Glimmer quickly objected, as she moved forward before pointing at their prisoner “What if she escapes and reports back to her superiors?”

“Why would we let her escape?”

“We wouldn't _let_ her escape, Bow! She just would!”

“Well, that sounds a bit pessimistic. And we've been using our names the whole time, I'm pretty sure she already heard who we are.” Bow pointed out.

To which Glimmer let out a groan of frustration, before running her hands through her hair “The point is we're trying to get information out of her, not the other way around. We can't give away more info than we end up getting out of her!”

“Uhhm...”

The two friends paused in their argument, before turning their attention back to their, apparently confused, prisoner.

“I'm not entirely sure what's going on...” The cat-girl admitted, as she stared up at them blankly. Panning her gaze between the two, she gave a tilt of her head as she scrutinized them “...but you two seem kinda bad at this.”

Bow was ready to admit that she might be right, when Glimmer suddenly shoved him to the side, before dramatically pointing down at their prisoner with her sternest expression.

“Tell us your name right now!”

“Uhhh...No.”

“Come on! Errrrgh! I knew it!”

Bow had to let out a heavy sigh, as he watched his best friend's face contort in frustration, from the sidelines. Their prisoner seemed pretty unfazed by the whole display; if anything, she seemed vaguely amused by Glimmer's attempts at getting information out of her. If this was how she was hoping to interrogate their Horde captive, they might need to confer and come up with a new plan.

“Okay, let's maybe put a pin in the whole interrogating the prisoner idea. At least, until we can get to a village and find her a healer.” Bow offered, as he stood up and began to brush himself off.

“Fine!” Glimmer shouted as she stalked back over towards the sword.

“Remember our new rule! Safety first!” He called out, just as a helpful reminder.

“I remember!” The princess huffily declared from the other side of the clearing, before turning back towards the sword. The fact that he saw her pause, before scrutinizing her fingerless gloves told him that she might not have actually remembered their new rule. He smiled to himself, as he saw her let out another sigh, before taking off her cape and getting ready to wrap-up the sword.

“Thank you!” Bow called back out, eliciting a dramatic roll of the princess' eyes. Smiling he turned back towards their bemused captive.

“Sorry about all that.” The archer told their prisoner with a chipper tone. When this elicited nothing more than a stare from her, Bow gave a light shrug “She's kinda under a lot of stress.”

More silent staring.

“Glimmer just really needs this to go well. She's trying to prove herself and...it's just leaving her a little high-strung.”

Yet more silent staring.

“So, you already heard that I'm Bow and that's Glimmer. Is there something we can call you?”

Still no progress.

“That's alright. I can get why you might not want to share your name.” Bow quickly reassured, as he held up his hands to show there was no pressure. Bringing a finger to chin in thought, he considered things briefly before holding up a finger “...We could do nicknames?”

She furrowed her brow this time, which was progress he figured.

“I guess my name already kinda sounds like a nickname, now that I think about it...” Bow continued to seemingly think aloud, at least content that he had her attention “You could be...Wildcat?”

She squinted at that.

“No? How about we go with...Fuzzy?”

The cat-girl made a face at that.

“We can keep it simple and go with Kitty.”

There came the annoyed sigh.

“I'm sure we'll come up with-”

“Catra!...Just call me Catra.”

Bow gave a hearty smile at that, which seemed to elicit a mix of confusion, suspicion and annoyance from her, which he happily ignored.

“It's nice to meet you, Catra.”

* * *

“Cadet Adora, reporting in!”

“Hi, Cadet Adora!...Can I help you?”

That gave Adora some pause, as she stared upwards, as Force Captain Scorpia certainly cut an impressive figure.

"Oh, uh...I'm reporting in.” Adora said a bit more hesitantly.

“Uhm, okay...” The Force Captain replied with a tilt of her head, before she turned back to the datapad she was holding. Tapping away at it with her other claw, she seemed to be struggling, before glancing back towards Adora.

“Wait. Are you lost? Cause I'm always getting lost around here.” Scorpia said, pausing in her attempts to make her datapad work.

“No?...I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be here.” Adora pointed to herself, before pointing to the floor.

“Oh. And what's her deal?” Scorpia added, while gesturing her claw to the frantically pacing batfolk a few steps behind the cadet “Cause she kinda looks like she's freaking out.”

“That's Noxie. She's also supposed to be reporting here.” Adora quickly explained while glancing back towards the doctor. After a moment of thought, she gave a tilt of her head “And I'm pretty sure she is freaking out.”

“Huh...good to know.” Scorpia said with a nod, as she watched Noxie pace back and forth a few more times. Giving a shake of her head, she turned back to the cadet “Alright, well, if you can give me just a second, I've got to figure out some things.”

“Oh...Ok.” The cadet hesitantly replied, as she wasn't going to question a Force Captain.

“Yeah, it's just I got a lot on my plate right now...” The scorpion-woman explained, as she gestured idly to the rest of the hangar they were standing in with her free claw. And sure enough, the hangar was bustling with activity, as nearly a dozen Horde troops prepped skiffs, loaded up on basic supplies, and checked their equipment. Most were so focused on their work, they didn't even spare the new arrivals a glance. It was a fine example of the discipline and coordination that had been drilled into every member of the Horde over the years.

“Seems like you are pretty busy.” Adora conceded with a tilt of her head.

“We're supposed to be going out on a scouting mission right now, but I can't seem to get this thing to work...” Scorpia admitted, as she continued to futilely tap away at the screen with her claw-tip, her face scrunching up with frustration.

“Uhm, do you need a hand?”

“I'm really starting to think that I do!” Scorpia declared, before throwing her arms up in the hair, before turning back towards Adora “Is that wrong?”

“I...don't think so?

“I mean, right? It's not like this is the first time I've kinda wished I had hands...” The Force Captain admitted, before raising up and looking at her claws. Pursing her lips, she then looked to the floor “But, shouldn't I also be comfortable in my own body? It's not a bad thing to have claws and I-”

“I...I actually just meant, do you need some help? With the pad?” Adora eventually clarified, as she gestured to the datapad.

“Oh...Ohhhhhh! That makes way more sense!” Scorpia eventually said with a big smile, as realization set in for her. Taking a moment to lightly tap her own forehead with the tip of her claw “I thought- And then you said- Oh, that's funny.”

“Yeah, sorry. I should have been more clear.” Adora gave an awkward smile at that. Clearing her throat and standing up a bit straighter, the cadet then pointed towards the datapad “So, do you need me to...?”

“That would actually be great!” The Force Captain said in a friendly manner as she leaned down to offer the datapad. Accepting it from her, Scorpia then gestured towards the part of the touchscreen she was concerned with “If you could just open that right there? Under the 'Urgent Message' icon? I feel like I should probably see what that is.”

“Sure, no problem...” The cadet easily agreed, tapping away at the pad's screen with her finger. She found her gaze briefly lingering on the message, before it occurred to her how rude that could be and handing the pad back to Scorpia “...here you go.”

“Thanks! You're really a lifesaver!” Scorpia replied with an easy smile, as she took back the pad. Rubbing at the back of her head, she gave a nod “An urgent message right before a mission? I can't not look at that, right?”

“Anything I can do to help.” Adora replied with an amicable shrug.

“Alright, let's see what we have here...” The Force Captain said aloud, as she let her eyes dance across the screen taking in the message. Giving a brief pause, she held out the pad again to Adora “Sorry, but could you scroll down for me a bit?”

“No problem.” The cadet replied, gliding a finger across the touchscreen easily.

“Thanks.” Scorpia said before turning her attention back to the pad.

This was really not how she expected her first mission to go, Adora had to concede to herself, as she watched the much taller woman checking her messages. All of her pent-up anxiety and worry for Catra just kinda seemed to be sitting at the bottom of her gut, as she did her best to stay at attention. And the Force Captain wasn't exactly consistent with her expectations either; she expected the Force Captains to be all business, all the time. While Force Captain Scorpia seemed almost relaxed and friendly, to the point she nearly couldn't believe it.

_'Is that the kind of Force Captain I'm going to be...?'_

It wasn't exactly a bad thing though, she admitted. She could almost imagine herself being at ease around this Force Captain, even with the doctor's anxiety taking up the space directly behind her. The troopers in the room seemed fairly relaxed too, still focused on their assigned tasks and staying busy. It was very different from the apparent fear that Shadow Weaver always managed to elicit in those beneath her.

“Huh. I guess it's a good thing I always check my messages.” Scorpia said aloud to herself. Turning towards Adora she held up the pad before pointing at the message shown on the screen “So, I guess you two are coming along to find this missing cadet?”

“So it would seem...”

Adora blinked at the pitiable moan that came from her side, before turning to see Noxie, with her head hanging low. Evidently, she'd moved from anxious pacing to despondent resignation by now. Giving a shake of her head, she turned her attention away from the doctor, before looking back up towards Scorpia.

“We're looking for Catra. She-...She's gone missing. And she might be sick...” Adora finally said with a nod.

“She's definitely sick.” The batfolk said offhandedly, even as she rubbed at her forehead again, not noticing the frown this elicited from the cadet.

“Huh...And you're cadets though, right? Then this is your first mission?” Scorpia asked with a tilt of her head.

“I-...I know what you're probably thinking, Force Captain! And I promise I won't get in the way!” Adora quickly declared, as she again stood at attention and threw in another salute for good measure.

If Adora was being honest with herself, she wasn't even sure she should be allowed on this mission. After letting Catra down, she would have understood if she had been benched for the foreseeable future; really, it had been one screw-up after another for Adora. She'd been caught off-guard when Lord Hordak had actually agreed with Shadow Weaver's suggestion to let her help find her friend. Perhaps Lord Hordak was testing her. Perhaps Shadow Weaver was trying to help Adora win his favor. Perhaps it didn't really matter what the reason was.

Whatever the reason, she wasn't going to pass-up the chance to fix things.

“I am 100% committed to bringing my best friend home, Force Captain! I'm ready and awaiting your orders!” Adora punctuated that with another salute, even as she tried to ignore the stares she was receiving from the other occupants of the hangar.

“That...is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.”

“...What's that now?”

Adora had certain expectations about how her outburst was going to be received. An encouraging affirmation of her commitment, a reprimand for making a scene, disciplined indifference, all of those thing could have been reasonable outcomes. Even a sympathetic, but reserved, pat on the back might have been in play.

But she didn't know how to react to the towering Force Captain clasping her claws together and beaming down at her with a heartfelt smile and teary eyes.

“Risking your lives to rescue a fellow cadet, all in the name of friendship...” Scorpia continued, giving a sniff at the idea.

“I-...I'd actually like for us to not risk any lives.” Noxie hesitantly pointed out, holding up a finger to try to get her attention.

“I mean, yeah, we'd try to minimize the risk to-” Adora agreed with a tilt of her head.

“Well, I for one believe in you two!” The Force Captain abruptly declared, holding up one claw, even as she swept up Adora in her other.

“...What's happening?” Adora blurted out, as she was mushed into the side of her superior. Glancing around to see if anyone else found this as odd as she did, it only revealed the doctor backing away a couple of extra steps.

“I'll tell you what's happening! Friendship is happening!” Scorpia replied, as she brought her other claw to hold Adora out in front of her. Bringing Adora in a bit closer “I can sense that what you cadets have is really special.”

“Uhm...yeah?”

“And while it might be dangerous, I promise you two cadets have nothing to worry about while I'm in charge!” The scorpion-woman added with a light shake for the cadet in her claws. Giving the most confident smile she could “Cause we're going to reunite you two with your lost friend! No matter what!”

“...You know I'm not a cadet, right?” Noxie eventually asked from the side with a tilt of her head.

“I'm sorry, what?” Scorpia blurted out, turning towards the batfolk, before turning back towards the cadet still held up in front of her.

“She's not.” Adora easily agreed, idly gesturing with a finger towards Noxie.

“Oh.” Scorpia said after a moment. Glancing between Adora and Noxie a couple of times, she gave a tilt of her head towards the doctor “So, is she like someone's little sister or...?”

“How young do you think I am?” The batfolk asked, making a face at the question, before looking down at herself. The petite Noxie managed to come in an at least a couple of inches under Adora' own height, so it wasn't terribly shocking of a mistake to make “I'm older than both of you...”

“Uh, Force Captain Scorpia? This is Doctor Nocturnia. Catra is her patient.” Adora eventually explained for her new superior.

“Noxie, please.” The batfolk added, her shoulders bunching up at hearing her full name.

“Huh...Well, I guess it's still nice of you to be so worried about your missing patient.” Scorpia conceded after a couple of moments of thought.

“It's...actually a bit more complicated than that.”Adora noted from Scorpia's grip, and earning a downcast look from the doctor. Turning to look back to the Force Captain, she pointed to herself and then to the ground “Also...can I get down now?”

“Right! Right, sorry about that.” Scorpia soon apologized, before setting Adora down lightly, pausing as she did so to dust her off with her claws a bit. Leaning back she gave a self-deprecating smile “I got a little carried away there. What with all that talk of rescues and best friends...”

“I...it was nice?” Adora said hesitantly, not entirely sure if she was being truthful, not having much experience being swept off her feet.

“Anytime! Err, hold on. That's a weird thing to offer to someone you've just met, isn't it?” Scorpia noted aloud, as she rubbed at her chin with her claw tip.

“Little bit.” Noxie replied without any hesitation.

“Oh, right! It's nice to meet you too, Doc!” The Force Captain exclaimed with a smile. Leaning forward, Scorpia gave a much more reserved, pat on the batfolk's shoulder “It's nice to know that we're gonna have our own doctor along for the ride! We should probably actually do more of that, don't you think?”

“Well, I'm glad it's put you at ease...” Noxie noted, as she hung her head, her pointed ears drooping a bit.

“Was it something I said?” Scorpia asked, blinking at the doctor's depressing reaction.

"Uhhmmm...apparently, Noxie doesn't really do field work.”Adora eventually offered, gesturing towards the batfolk with her hand. Moving that same hand to rub at the back of her neck, the cadet looked up to the scorpion-woman “I guess she has...freak-outs?”

“It-It's not...freak-outs...” Noxie groaned out, even as she intertwined her fingers together and held her hands on the top of her head, as if she was literally trying to hold it together.

“I mean...you kinda seem like you're freaking out?” Scorpia asked with a gesture of her claw.

“No, this...this is more of a...creeping dread and an inexorable sense that something horrible will happen if I go outside...” The doctor eventually said, as her posture curled up on itself and her voice's pitch went a bit higher. Giving a shake of her head, Noxie swallowed "Definitely not a freak-out.

“...Am I crazy, or is she not gonna be alright? Seems like it might be better if she stayed here.” The Force Captain said with a tilt of her head.

“That's kind of not an option.” Adora said, bunching up her shoulders and looking to the side. The cadet held out her hands as she continued to explain “Technically, Lord Hordak did say that Noxie could stay here in the Fright Zone if she wanted...”

“Okay, so what's the problem?”

“He also said that, if anything happens to Catra out there, Noxie would share the same fate.” Adora explained, as she gestured back towards Noxie. Giving a nod to the batfolk, she gave a shrug "So, I guess, anything that happens to Catra...happens to her.

“Oh...that's kinda intense. So, like if something bad happened...”

“My doctor's note didn't matter at all...” The doctor said, giving a slight nod, even as she remained curled up with anxiety.

“Ah, I wouldn't worry too much!” Scorpia eventually declared with a wave of her claw and a smile, causing the batfolk to peek upwards.

“Why not?”

“I mean, how far could your patient have gotten on her own? I'm sure we'll find her in no time!” The Force Captain declared.

“Uhm, Force Captain?” Adora said, holding up her hand to get Scorpia's attention. Having earned it she stood back at attention “Apparently we tracked a signal leading to the Whispering Woods. Shadow Weaver wants us to start there.”

“Huh...” That gave Scorpia some pause, as she considered the prospect of going into the Whispering Woods. Twirling her claw tips around each other, she eventually shrugged and looked back towards the doctor “I guess...just try to stay in the skiff then?”

“...Sounds good.” Noxie replied, not particularly encouraged.

“Don't worry! I'll be keeping an eye on you.” The well-built Force Captain said, patting her claw against her chest. Reaching out and patting the batfolk on the back, she tried to project as much confidence as possible “I promise, if I hear any screaming, I'll come running.”

“Why would I be screaming?” The batfolk looked up with alarm, her eyes widening at that.

“Uhhhh...you won't! Because you'll be staying in the skiff. Where you'll be...mostly safe.” Scorpia nodded to herself, as she quickly backpedaled.

“Maybe we should just focus on our preparations for now, Force Captain?” Adora offered, as she saw scorpion-woman's earnest attempts at settling the doctor's nerves backfire. Glancing past Scorpia, she gestured to the three skiffs further in the hangar “It looks like most of our equipment has been loaded.”

“Good idea! That's just the kind of go-getter attitude we need more of!” Scorpia declared, before turning to stride off to check with the troops. Pausing briefly mid-step, she turned back around before setting her claws on Noxie's shoulders “I promise, you won't get eaten!”

“Just go.” Adora finally declared, gesturing with both hands towards the skiffs. Blinking as she realized that she'd just snapped at a superior officer “Uh...ma'am.”

“Right, right, right! You're absolutely right. We've got a mission to focus on!” The Force Captain said mostly to herself, apparently not bothered by the cadet overstepping her position. Not a moment later, she was jogging over towards the remaining troopers “Definitely no one is getting eaten on my watch!”

Adora tilted her head, as she saw a ripple of confused reactions pass through the gathered troopers, as the Force Captain's well-meaning declaration reached them. In spite of that, part of her couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised by it all, as she never would have guessed just how caring a Horde Force Captain could be. It was almost a relief to see; Adora had more than a few preconceptions in mind about how she might have been expected to act if she'd been promoted. It seemed she might have a bit more wiggle room than she'd originally thought.

If nothing else, Force Captain Scorpia didn't mind getting her claws dirty. Adora had to stare as she watched the larger woman pick-up a hefty crate that one of the troopers had been struggling with in one arm and walking over to a waiting skiff with it. Along with the trooper still holding on to the crate.

“I'm definitely going to get eaten...” Noxie bemoaned, as she trudged past the cadet.

Adora had to scrunch up her face, as the doctor passed her by, wondering if there was any way that Noxie could be a bit more positive about the situation. It didn't seem that unreasonable to Adora, for Lord Hordak to expect the batfolk to help in finding Catra. Though, internally, the cadet could recognize that she was a bit biased about the issue.

This mission was Adora's everything right now. It was her chance to prove herself. A chance to finally make a difference in the world. And a chance to save her dearest friend.

Even if others might not share her drive, she 'd be driven enough for all of them.

* * *

Catra was getting very used to waking up confused.

Or at least, she was pretty sure that she was, as she still wasn't sure how many times she'd actually woken-up since all this weirdness began. The forest, the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver, Adora, the crazy old lady, it was getting a bit frustrating. Every time she closed her eyes, she was afraid she'd open them to find that everything had changed on her again.

So it was almost a relief to wake-up to something familiar. Granted, she was still waking up in a strange place with strange people. But, it was progress.

One eye slowly roved over her surroundings, taking in the sight of the thick undergrowth and the towering trees slowly moving past her. There was Sparkles up ahead, pushing aside a tree branch, even as she cradled an object bundled up in cloth. Still, not everything was adding up, as she realized that she was both upright and in motion.

It was only when the sound of a brief grunt of effort from in front her that caused one of her ears to twitch that the world came into focus.

“Oh, hey! You're awake again.” The boy from before noted, Bow, she recalled distantly. It was only when he turned to look over his shoulder that she finally put it all together, and realized he was carrying her on his back.

“Mmmrrnn...” Catra groaned at that realization. She wasn't sure what bothered her about it exactly, but it bothered her all the same.

“How are you feeling? Any better?” Bow asked with genuine concern, as he turned his gaze back to where he was walking. Or she thought he might sound like he was genuinely concerned, as she wasn't very familiar with the sentiment.

She closed her eyes again at the question. Waiting a few seconds before opening them, she was bit disappointed to see that her situation hadn't changed.

“I'm not sure...” Catra croaked.

“What aren't you sure about?”

“Don't know...not even sure you two idiots are real...” Catra muttered out, before trying to clear her throat.

“Okay. That's a bit hurtful.” Bow dryly replied, not seeming to take any real offense. She felt him give a light shrug at that, before continuing in a slightly exasperated tone “Still, if you have the energy to make mean comments, I guess you have to be feeling a little better.”

Catra just gave a small grunt at that, as she took in her situation. There wasn't that much to figure out, as her arms were draped around the archer's front, while he held onto her legs and leaned forward to keep her slumped against his back. It took her a few moments to realize what seemed off about that, before she caught sight of Sparkles up ahead; it seemed she was now lugging around Bow's weapon of choice and his quiver.

Blinking again as she took this all in, it occurred to her that she might remain conscious for a little while this time. And she might as well make the most of it.

“Wh-Where-...” Catra had to pause as the words tried to rasp their way out of her throat. Trying to clear her throat again, she saw him look back again with some concern, as she struggled to speak through her dry mouth.

“Oh! I didn't even realize!” Bow suddenly declared, as he visibly put everything together. Coming to a halt, she watched as he raised his hands up to cup around his mouth to call out “Glimmer! We need to take a short rest!”

“What?! Why?” The other girl quickly demanded, turning around to sport a frustrated look for her friend.

“I think Catra might be a bit dehydrated. We need to take a quick water break.” The archer explained, even as he moved over to find a place to set the Horde cadet down.

“She's dehydra- Ugggh! Fine!” Glimmer grumpily agreed, even as she gave a heavy roll of her eyes at their circumstances. Setting the bundled up sword and Bow's things down, she crossed her arms before giving a huff “Can we just try to make it quick?”

Catra couldn't help but notice how the other girl seemed to be wrestling to control her emotions, as she briefly caught sight of Sparkles glaring at her, before turning away. She didn't have long to dwell on things, as Bow stepped over towards a large root and moved to set her down. And she wasn't particularly inclined to bother thinking about it in her state anyway.

That aside, she was pretty thirsty she realized.

A few moments later, Bow was turning around and kneeling down by the aforementioned root, and slowly releasing where he was helping to hold up her legs. It should have been a simple process for her, but when her legs met the ground, she quickly realized they weren't doing their part to help her stand. Suddenly she was tightening her grip with her arms to balance things out when she was reminded of something else.

She tried to stifle the pained sound that came from her, when the sharp sensation shot-up her right arm again.

“Sorry, sorry! I forgot your right arm is messed up.” Bow quickly apologized, as he realized what was wrong. She wanted to complain about it, but could only exhale in relief, as he helped support her weight again “Okay, we'll go slower this time. I'll try to support you more from the left this time, alright?”

Catra wanted to say something biting, but could only manage to nod, as her right arm continued to throb. Still, he proved true to his word and took it much more slowly this time, removing one arm first, before helping to support her weight more easily. Not that Catra didn't literally pull her weight, not wanting to do a repeat of before. Soon Bow was ducking his head under her outstretched arms, and she was leaning back against the bundle of roots and catching her breath.

Creaking one eye open revealed the princess still off to one side, her expression torn between anger and concern. It didn't particularly matter enough to Catra to bother figuring it out though.

Taking in another deep breath, she moved to cradle and rub away at the pain in her right arm the strain had caused before she noticed something else. Shifting her hands a bit, Catra opened both her eyes again before looking down at her wrists. And sure enough there were several lengths of cord wrapping her wrists together, binding her hands together.

It seemed to be at that moment that Bow realized that she had just realized that they had tied her up. He seemed to be feeling appropriately awkward about it all.

It did nothing to dilute the annoyance on her face, as she furrowed her brow and stared up at him expectantly, sparing a moment to glance down to her limbs questioningly.

She shouldn't have been surprised by his sheepish reaction to the unspoken question, as he looked to the side and rubbed at the back of his head “Sorry about that. I mean...you are our prisoner.”

“Bow! You don't need to explain yourself to the prisoner!” The princess reprimanded from the side, giving what Catra thought was a bit of a dramatic gesture.

“Well, I'm not going to be rude about it, Glimmer.” Bow pointed out, before turning back towards Catra.

She still wasn't particularly enthused about being tied up, and she let her expression say it.

And it did seem to discomfort him a bit, before he glanced to the side “And besides...I was kinda worried you might fall over backwards, if we didn't tie your arms together.”

“You were going to drop me?” Catra rasped out.

“Not on purpose. It was just...a concern.” He quickly explained, even as he reached behind himself, and pulled out a canteen. Bow soon untwisted the cap, before moving a bit closer.

Catra furrowed her brow at his response, before turning a suspicious look towards the canteen. She managed to give a tilt of her head that was enough to convey her lack of trust.

“I wasn't going to drop you!” Bow reiterated, before slumping forward in defeat. Taking in a deep breath, he held up the canteen again for her to see, before taking a sip himself “See? It's perfectly normal water.”

“...Fine.” Catra eventually gave a huff, before leaning forward. Reaching up her bound arms, she guided the canteen in with his help and tilted the vessel back.

“Alright, don't drink too fast. You might-” Bow was cut-off from completing his warning, by the cat-girl suddenly letting out a choked cough. Pausing, as the spray of water washed over him, he took in another deep breath “...-have that happen.”

“My bad...” Catra managed to wheeze out, after a couple more seconds of coughing. A little bit after that, she finally felt like she might have cleared her throat, before another unpleasant sensation hit her “Uggghhh...why does my mouth taste gross?”

“Oh, you don't remember? From when you barfed on my leg?” Glimmer piped in an accusatory tone, as she planted her fists at her sides and leaned forward.

Catra blinked a couple of times at that, before turning to the canteen “That explains the smell...”

She didn't need to look to know that her comment had really riled up the hostile princess, as the frustrated noise she made and the sound of stomping boots painted a pretty clear picture.

“So...is there any chance you two are going to let up?” Bow eventually asked, glancing between Glimmer and Catra.

“You should be asking her that!” Glimmer shouted back, without turning around; he didn't need to point out that he did ask both of them. Bow just let out a sigh, though he too looked to be suprisingly exhausted by the short exchange.

Catra wasn't exactly a master of reading social interactions on her best day, if her extremely limited circle of friends was any indication. So, she took it as evidence that something must have happened while she was out of it, if she was able to notice the shadow hanging over these two in her current state.

“Did I miss something...?”

“I'm sorry. We-...we passed through a village earlier. When you were out cold.” Bow eventually confessed, even though it seemed like it shouldn't have been such a hard thing to admit.

The Horde cadet furrowed her brow at that, as she tried to recall their earlier conversation “Wait...weren't you trying to find a village?”

“Uh, yeah. But...this one-”

“It was destroyed. By the Horde.” Sparkles snapped, as she turned back to shoot a glare at Catra.

“...Well, that's inconvenient.” The Horde cadet noted.

“Wha- Is that all you have to say?!” The princess demanded, after getting over her initial shock, and gesturing with both hands towards the prisoner.

“Yeah? Why are you shouting at me? I didn't do it.” Catra offhandedly pointed out, as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

“Because you're a Horde soldier!”

“I'm just a cadet. Not much of a soldier.”

“Is there supposed to be a difference?”

“Not really, I guess.” Catra replied, giving a light shrug of her left shoulder, before opening her eyes again.

"How can you- I can't-..."

Her ear twitched, as she wondered if the other girl was going to waste anymore of her breath screaming at her, only to be met with silence. Blinking slowly, Catra looked up to see a rather dejected looking expression on Bow's face, the young man turned away from her. Tilting her head, she eventually turned to glance back towards the princess, her head bent over with both of her fists tightly clenched.

She definitely saw tears.

Glimmer abruptly sucked in a breath, before turning away and walking over towards where she had set the sword and Bow's things down “We should get going.”

Catra hadn't really expected that. Maybe more screaming or perhaps Sparkles taking a swing at her. It's what she would have expected from others anyway.

“Catra?” The girl blinked as Bow said her name, before she remembered her earlier conversation with him. She was more taken aback, by how he just seemed to be looking at her imploringly “Do you really not care what the Horde does?”

That was never a question she expected to be asked. Obviously not from anyone in the Horde; everyone there tended to be pretty gung-ho about what they were doing. And how could anyone on the other side of the war think to even bother asking something as stupid as that? How could someone like her care about any of it? Was she supposed to be upset that war was unpleasant? How was asking that any different from the other cadets asking her why she didn't care about training? How could anyone care about something they had no control over?

“Why should I care?”

“Because people are getting hurt.”

She hadn't expected an answer. Much less one that was delivered so easily and without hesitation. His expression didn't even change when he said it. It was just stated so simply, that he had to believe it was the only answer that mattered.

Catra wanted to comeback with something sharp. She wanted to be able to shutdown such a stupid response. Part of of her wanted to tell him that the best way to deal with people being hurt was to not care. She wanted to close her eyes and for this to not be real. But the only thing she found waiting for her, was the usual pounding in her head that she'd grown so accustomed to lately.

“My headache's getting worse...”

“I'm sorry.” Bow said, in a way that made it sound like he really was. Glancing down he held up the canteen again “Do you want some more water, before we get going again?”

She didn't answer for a few seconds, wondering how he could so readily offer, before she gave a small nod.

Catra had a few more sips from the canteen with his help. He didn't make a fuss about it. She briefly considered making the prospect of him carrying her on his back again into an issue, but she genuinely didn't feel like she had the energy for it. Within a minute, he'd eased her arms up over his head, again being careful of her right arm.

It was only after he was getting ready to stand-up with her, that she broke the silence.

“Why is your back all wet?”

“What do you mean?” He blurted out, earnestly caught off-guard by the question. Glancing back it took him a moment to put together what she meant, before he tilted his head “Oh, right. I guess I should have known that you'd be thirsty.”

“What?” Catra blurted out this time.

“You've been losing a lot of fluids.” He explained, while still looking back towards her.

The cadet had to lean back from that answer, before glancing down at herself “Wait, I didn't...”

“Oh, uh. I meant, you've been sweating a lot.” Bow quickly clarified. Holding up a hand, he quickly waved away any other possibilities “Just sweating. You didn't-...I'm just gonna stop talking.”

“...Good idea.”

“Although...if you do need to take a break for any...” Bow trailed off again, as he hedged around the topic. Eventually, he just gave up before simply saying it out loud “Just let me know if you need a bathroom break.”

“...I'm gonna try to pass out now.”

“Yeah, that's fair.”

Catra still wasn't sure that she believed these idiots were real.

It was only after she'd leaned her head against his back again and she felt the steady motion of his footsteps carrying them through the woods again that she realized that something was different. Something that should have been painfully obvious, in the worst way. She'd been entirely ready to close her eyes and just ignore things for a while, when it finally sank in.

She'd stopped hearing the voice. The voice that had been constantly telling her to give up the sword was silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter. And they're even showing up at a regular pace. That's pretty good. Gonna see if I can't aim for making that the schedule, getting a chapter out once every couple of weeks.
> 
> So, this one took me a little bit of time to figure out at different points. Trying to pinpoint Scorpia's general energy through all of this was an interesting challenge, as she's getting introduced a bit earlier than in canon and under different circumstances. Bow's trying to put on the charm offensive. And Catra's a grumpy kitty. Hopefully it didn't come across as Catra being swayed too quickly here. As she's not. But there's just something about Bow's genuinely caring nature, that I have to think would leave her too confused to be mean about. At least, for the time being.
> 
> As per usual, you guys can expects some editing and typo corrections over the next couple of days. I'll be going over this a few times, I'm sure, to tighten things up a bit.
> 
> And as always, I look forward to any questions or comments you guys might have.


	4. Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein, everyone is trying something new.

“Can we take a short breather?”

“Oh, does the prisoner need another water break?” Glimmer asked a bit sarcastically, as she paused to look back. Leaning the bundled up sword and Bow's affects against her shoulder, she gestured towards the frustrating prisoner “How can she need another break, when you're the one carrying her?”

“Uh...that's kinda why _I_ need a break.” Bow admitted, before adjusting the Horde cadet's weight. Pursing his lips he tilted his head back towards their captive “She's not that heavy, but I could use a minute...Also, I think she passed out again.”

“Oh.” That gave Glimmer some brief pause, as she was much more willing to be considerate of someone that wasn't horrible. Rubbing at her neck, she then gestured the way they had been trudging “Are you sure we can't keep going a little further? I'm pretty sure we're just outside of Thaymor.”

“That's even better. We can take a minute to figure out how we're going to go in.” Bow pointed out.

“Fine...We can take a short break.” The princess agreed with a heavy sigh. Wrapping her free hand around the bundle of things in her arms “Although, I don't really get why we need a plan.”

“Thaymor's a pretty peaceful place. Just walking in with a Horde soldier, even one that's our prisoner, might freak some people out.” Her friend explained, shifting his weight to gesture in the general direction of the village.

“Alright, alright. I guess that makes sense.” Glimmer conceded, while holding up her own hand to say that she didn't need anymore convincing. And honestly, she could see his point on the matter. Just the idea that Horde troops might be nearby has caused people to get jumpy before. Even just the sight of the Rebellion carrying around an unconscious captive might make them think there were more Horde forces around.

And it did help that they were very literally a stone's throw away from Thaymor. She could hear the sounds of normal village life and see the wispy smoke of happy homes through the trees. It wouldn't hurt to figure out a way to do things without causing unnecessary worry or panic.

After passing through the ruins of that village, she didn't want to bring any thoughts of war with her to these peaceful people.

“We'll just take a few minutes, alright?” Glimmer eventually said, as she set down her own load by an old log.

“Sure. But...can you help me set Catra down?” Bow asked, with another gesture towards the prisoner “It's kinda awkward doing it myself, and I don't want to wake her if I can avoid it.”

“I guess she talks a lot less when she's asleep.” She dryly noted.

“That...And in her condition, she probably needs any rest she can get.” He added, in his usual practical manner. Bow seemed to think about that for a moment, before giving a tilt of his head “And she actually kinda talks a lot in her sleep.”

The princess had to give an exaggerated roll of her eyes at that, even as she gave out a huff of annoyance for her friend.

“I don't understand how you can be so nice to her.” Glimmer bemoaned as she stomped over towards the two of them, gesturing with both hands towards the unconscious girl.

“Nice? How am I being nice?” Bow asked in genuine confusion.

“Really? You've literally been carrying her for miles.” The princess gave a tilt of her head at that.

“She's unconscious.” Bow had to point out, gesturing back to the still very much unconscious girl hanging on his back. Giving a shake of his head at that “That was literally the point I was making just a few seconds ago.”

“All I'm saying is maybe you were being a little bit too friendly.” Glimmer noted, with a shake of her head. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked him in the eye “Do you think she'd be as friendly about it, if things were reversed?”

“...Well, I don't want to be cruel, just because she would.”

“Just-...Just don't get too attached. She is still the enemy and I don't think that's going to be changing anytime soon.” She pointed out, with another shake of her head.

Bow really could be too nice for his own good, even towards those that would probably never return the sentiment. With someone as heartless as a Horde soldier, he had to know that on some level he was setting himself up for disappointment. Honestly, there were plenty of times that Glimmer felt even she didn't deserve all of the kindness Bow tried to share with the world.

“Anyway, what's the problem? You can pretty much set her down anywhere. I don't think she's really going to notice.” Glimmer easily changed the subject back to the matter at hand.

“I'm not going to just drop her, Glimmer. Especially not without knowing what's wrong with her.” He predictably objected, earning a sigh from her.

“Alright...what do you need me to do? Do you need me to lift her up?” Glimmer finally said, before walking around him with a scrutinizing look.

“Eh, maybe...if you could just hold her up, I can probably slip under her arms without moving them too much. Then you can-” Bow began to walk her through what he had in mind, before she just let her hands drop to her side and disappeared in a cloud of sparkles.

In another flash of dancing light, she appeared at his back and easily took a hold of Catra at the waist, before disappearing again along with their prisoner. A moment later she reappeared standing in front of him, the other girl held in her arms and a smug look on her face.

“...Or we could just do that.” Bow conceded, while pursing his lips a bit. Giving a tilt of his head, he furrowed his brow in thought “Actually, I'm not sure why we didn't do that earlier.”

“Because I didn't offer.”

“That could be it.” He added with a sagely nod.

“Alright, so...where do you want her?” Glimmer asked, as she tried to shift the weight of the other girl around in her arms. Awkwardly cradling her now, the princess had to wonder how Bow was able to lug her around for the whole trip “And I thought you said she wasn't heavy?”

“She didn't seem heavy to me.” Bow replied without thinking, as he began stretching.

Glimmer made a face at that, not liking the implication, but also knowing better than to think Bow would ever imply anything unkind. Still she had to give a huff of annoyance with herself, and for the dead weight sitting in her arms. Glancing down, she shifted her arms around a bit more, so that their prisoner's head wasn't lolling around weirdly.

She really didn't look so hot.

Or rather, the Horde soldier was very literally hot, as Glimmer could already feel the feverish heat radiating from the girl into her. Her hair looked damp with sweat and clung to her face, which itself seemed to have a pale cast to it. She could readily admit that, for whatever their differences, the girl was definitely sick in some manner. As out of it and vulnerable as she looked, Glimmer could almost imagine the cat-girl being a normal person, if not for the knowledge of who she worked for.

“Adora...”

Glimmer blinked as she saw the other girl's eyes barely creak open, and seem to stare off into space for a few seconds.

“Uhhh, who's Adora?”

“I think they must be a friend of hers. I heard her say the name a few times before...” Bow noted, as he walked a bit closer, noticing the situation.

Which was more than could be said for Catra, as she seemed even more confused and out of it than before, casting her gaze about aimlessly. The Horde cadet seemed to try to lift her head, before giving up and closing her eyes “Don't think the medicine is working...”

“Uhm...medicine?” Glimmer asked, looking up towards Bow, who just gave a shrug.

“Yeah...” Catra muttered again before shifting towards Glimmer a bit, causing the princess to adjust her own center of gravity to compensate. Before she knew it, their prisoner had curled up against Glimmer's chest, pressed her face against the princess' shoulder, and passed out again.

Their prisoner was definitely snuggling.

“...What.” Glimmer blankly exclaimed at this turn of events.

“Awww. It's kinda sweet.” Bow noted from the side, while holding his hands together.

“This isn't funny, Bow!” The princess angrily whispered back.

“I wasn't trying to be funny.” He replied, genuinely confused by the response.

“Just help me find a place to set her down! She-e-e-eee-e-!” Gilmmer abruptly blurted out, as her eyes went wide and she visibly tried to hold Catra further away from her.

“What?! What is it?” Bow asked panicking a bit now.

“Claws! Why does she even need claws?!” She quickly explained, as it was soon revealed that the unconscious Catra was indeed grasping at the front of Glimmer's outfit. And presumably pricking at the skin underneath, judging by how easily her claws they were poking through the normally tough material.

“Alright, alright! Just hold still...” Bow quickly tried to settle his friend as he moved closer to try to help. Still gritting her teeth in discomfort, Glimmer tried to position the other girl in a way that could let the archer get at the problem, without having to worry about dragging razor sharp claws across the princess' stomach. Thankfully, years of working with fine tools and gadgets lead to Bow quickly and gently unhooking Catra's claws from the front of Glimmer's outfit.

She soon let out a hefty sigh of relief, as the last claw was plucked away, before she quickly foisted their captive into Bow's arms.

“Oh, okay. I guess I'm carrying her again.” He noted.

“Errrgh! Even when she's unconscious, she's ruining things!” Glimmer exclaimed, as she pulled at the front of her outfit to show the little holes that had been punched through the fabric. She soon furrowed her brow as she spotted a couple of drops of blood welling up from where the claws had pricked her.

“That's just so typical of the Horde!” She declared, before crossing her arms in annoyance.

“Come on, Glimmer. You know-”

“I _know_ she didn't do it on purpose, Bow! Can you just let me be annoyed for one second?!” The princess demanded with a stomp of her foot, as she turned back towards him. Of course, the moment she turned around she saw the look on her friend's face. That same look of perpetual understanding and sympathy that he always kept in his back pocket was back.

She let out a quiet groan at that, as the anger drained out of her, and she brought her hands up against her forehead in frustration.

“Ya gotta tell me what's wrong, if I'm gonna be able to help.” Bow patiently pointed out, as he walked about to find a place to set their prisoner down.

“Fine...This kinda isn't going how I figured it would.” Glimmer admitted, as she let out a worried sigh. Running her hands through her hair, she looked back up towards Bow “I shouldn't have taken that out on you though.”

Glimmer took in a deep breath, before closing her eyes and letting it out slowly.

“How exactly am I supposed to prove that I can do...something! If things keep going like this.” The princess brought her hand back up to rub at her forehead. Opening her eyes she gestured back towards all of her accomplishments so far “How exactly am I going to impress anyone with a busted sword and a...busted prisoner?”

“Hey, we'll figure it out.” He said simply, even as he took the initiative and set their captive down to lean against a nearby tree. Making sure the Horde cadet wouldn't slump over, he looked back towards Glimmer “We'll just take this one step at a time.”

“Ugggh!...You're so understanding, I feel like a jerk!” Glimmer declared feigning a bit of annoyance, before letting herself smile a bit.

“I can't really help with that.” Bow replied with an easy shrug, as he stood back up from where he had been kneeling beside Catra. Holding up a finger, he then pointed both fingers towards the princess “But what I can do is help you figure out what we're gonna do next.”

“Right...One step at a time. I wish you didn't make it sound so easy.” Glimmer groaned a bit, before she was cut-off. Turning she saw that Bow had managed to sneak over to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“If it was easy you wouldn't want to do it anyway.”

“I probably wouldn't need to do it, if it was easy...Alright, are ya gonna lay it on me?” Glimmer finally agreed, her eyes drooping as she gave into his relentless faith in her. It did kinda help, knowing that there would always be someone at her back.

“First things first!” Bow gave a helpful nod at that, before setting his hands on his hips “And I'm thinking the first thing is, we need to make sure Catra doesn't get any worse.”

“Okay...She really is sick. So she needs a healer.” The princess conceded.

“And we don't just want to waltz into Thaymor with a Horde soldier.” He added.

“So...disguise?” Glimmer offered after a couple of moments thought.

“Don't really have anything for disguises...” Bow noted, as he brought a hand to his chin and pointedly looked around their spot.

“Thaymor does.” Glimmer pointed out, her mood picking up a bit, as she pushed a branch aside to point to the nearby village. Waiting for Bow to come closer, she gestured to the line of clothes drying in the breeze on the edge of the community “We could probably find something there.”

“That'll work. Alright, you keep an eye on Catra, I'll circle around and look for someone that-”

Glimmer just rolled her eyes, before disappearing into a cloud of sparkles. A moment later she materialized in a flash by the clothesline, and quickly snagged a billowy cloak from the line. Glancing back towards where Bow was watching, she held up the cloak for his benefit, before teleporting back.

“See? Easy.” The princess declared, as she reappeared.

“So...stealing?”

“It's not stealing, Bow. We're just borrowing it for a little while.”

“Borrowing usually involves asking for permission.”

“Fine!...Commandeering. For the Rebellion. It's for a good cause.”

“If you say so.”

“Oh, hush.

* * *

“Should we slow down?!”

“Oh, you don't want to slow down in the Whispering Woods!”

Adora had to do a double-take at the casually shouted advice from the Force Captain, as she struggled to maintain her grip on the side of the skiff. Weaving between the trees, Scorpia had barely even slowed down when she met the treeline. She was just now starting to appreciate that first impressions could be deceiving, as she experienced first-hand Scropia's piloting skills. While she had done her own mad dash back to the Fright Zone before, there was a world of difference in being the passenger as you whipped around at high speed.

She really shouldn't have been surprised to find that a Force Captain knew what she was doing.

“Why can't we slow down?!”

She also wasn't terribly surprised to see that Noxie was not handling their journey terribly well, the batfolk uncurling herself just enough to scream that question out before ducking back down. The doctor didn't even wait for an answer before pressing herself tightly against the nearest solid object for shelter.

“What's that?!” Scorpia called back, alarming Adora a bit, as she took one claw away from the controls to hold up to her ear. Pointing said claw back to her ear, and then holding it beside her mouth “It's hard to hear because of the wind!”

“I think she said-” Adora began, before being cut-off by a sharp turn past a fallen over tree. Stabilizing herself against the side of the skiff she turned back to the Force Captain “Why can't we-”

The young cadet was thrown free of her grip on the side, as the skiff abruptly cut its speed and pivoted almost completely in the opposite direction. The sound of a quick flare of the engines reached her, as she rolled to a stop on her back, as the skiff came to a halt.

“...-slow down?”

A few moments later, Adora found herself staring up into Scorpia's face, as her superior leaned over to peer down with concern. She blinked when she saw the claw offered to her, before putting things together and taking hold, accepting the help in getting back on her feet.

“Yeah, it's generally a bad idea to take your time going through this place.” Scorpia finally said, as she helped steady Adora.

“Wh-...why?” Noxie blurted out from the side, as she shakily tried to stand up on her own trembling legs. Adora could sympathize, given that she could still feel the rumbles of the skiff's engine rippling through her body.

“Oh, right. Cause of the monsters.” Scorpia finally clarified, with a claw held up to punctuate the point. She soon gestured to their surroundings “You gotta keep up the pace coming through here, or you'll be an easy target for the things looking for a quick meal.”

“Wh-...what?! You don't mean-...” The doctor asked with increasing alarm.

“Oh, yeah. We get way more causalities passing through these woods from troops letting off on the throttle too soon.” Scorpia sagely noted, crossing her arms and giving a nod.

“Then why have we stopped!?” Noxie demanded, her voice stuck between a shriek and a whisper now, as she started looking worriedly around now.

“The navigation pad beeped.” Scorpia matter-of-factly answered, reaching behind herself to pull out the data pad in question. Bringing it around, she glanced down before tapping the screen with her claw “These things can get a little buggy in the Whispering Woods, but we just entered the area of operations. More or less.”

“Uhm, more or less?” Adora prompted, as she looked out into the woods.

“Within a hundred yards or so of the signal we detected out here. It should line-up with where you said your incident occurred.” Scorpia clarified, as she lightly scraped at the touchscreen of her pad with her claw, still having a bit of trouble with it. Shrugging after a couple of moments, she looked back towards Adora “Anything look familiar?”

“Uhhh...honestly, I wasn't in the right mindset to look for any landmarks before.” The cadet admitted after a few moments.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that might be the case. Squads, report in.” Scorpia ordered without any preamble, her claw touching the communication device by her ear. Adora distantly heard the sounds of replies on the com device, watching as the Force Captain nodded.

“Mmm-hm. Alright, squads three and four maintain patrol patterns around squad two. 200 yards out at the farthest. Keep your trackers on.” Scorpia professionally declared into the comlink, idly making some gestures with her free claw that went unseen by those on the other end. The scorpion woman paced a couple of steps towards the edge of the skiff, as she doled out orders “Squad one will rendezvous with squad two on their current position.”

“Did we find something?” Adora excitedly asked, as she saw Scorpia lower her claw from the communication device.

“Please tell me it isn't a horrible monster...” Noxie requested, as she once more slumped by the side of the skiff, watching for any signs of movement. Given that they were in a lively forest, the batfolk's gaze was darting around a fair bit, with her pointed ears twitching regularly.

“Nope. We're actually doing pretty good on that front so far.” Scorpia replied in a chipper tone, as she moved back towards the rear of the skiff. Stowing her pad away again, she looked towards Adora “So far we haven't lost anyone. And squad two says they found a clearing like the one you described.”

“Did they find Catra?” Adora eagerly asked.

“Not yet. But they say they found some tracks, which is something.” The Force Captain explained, as she placed her claws on the controls again.

“Like people tracks or-” Noxie began, before the sudden force of the thrusters kicking on caused her to tumble over with a shout, as the skiff darted through the woods once more. In all of her excitement, Adora was likewise caught off-guard, falling to her knees and quickly trying to grab a hold of something.

Thankfully, it was a fairly short journey, as under a minute later they were skimming over the tops of some brambles and low-lying bushes into an open glade against a cliff-face. It took no time at all for Adora to spot the other skiff idling to one side of the scenic area. And only a few seconds later, she noticed the two Horde troopers clearly scrutinizing the grounds.

“Did you say something?” The cadet's attention drew back to the Force Captain, before she followed her superior's gaze to the dazed and prone doctor lying on the deck of the skiff.

“...It's not important.” Noxie muttered after a few seconds, not looking up from where she fell.

“Huh. Well, if you say so.” Scorpia replied easily, as she brought a claw tip to her lip in consideration. A moment later, the batfolk let out a surprised yelp, as Scorpia slipped her claws under her arms and stood her back up. Soon, the frazzled Noxie was staring back up at the Force Captain, barely seeming to register the friendly pat on her shoulder.

“Force Captain?” One of the troopers called over, drawing the attention of the three occupants of the skiff.

“Oh, right.” Scorpia said in an upbeat tone, before stepping to the side and easily vaulting off of the hover vehicle. Adora took a bit more time, bracing herself against the skiff, before lightly dropping down to the ground. It took her a moment to realize that their doctor didn't seem to have any intention of following suit.

“Uh, Noxie? Are you coming down?”

“...I was lead to believe it would be prudent to...stay on the skiff?” Noxie eventually offered, even as she briefly paused to glance around the area.

Adora had to resist the urge to climb back up onto the skiff and drag the batfolk down with her. She really, really wanted to be understanding, but lives were on the line. And Noxie was personally responsible for one of those lives, and didn't seem to be as dedicated to their goal as she should have been. The doctor very apparently noticed the cadet's disapproval and at least had the grace to look discomforted by it.

The cadet settled for pressing her palm against her forehead in frustration.

“Alright...I know you don't normally go out in the field. And I know you're kinda freaking out about Lord Hordak and being out here. But...” Adora steadily conceded, as she furrowed her brow and looked down at her feet. Looking back up to meet the batfolk's gaze “...can you please, please set that aside to help my friend?”

“I-...Eh, I'm just...”

“Something the matter?” Scorpia easily asked, as she stepped back over to the skiff to see what was keeping them.

Adora let the question hang over them for a few seconds, as she glanced between the doctor and their direct superior. The cadet really would rather not put the doctor on the spot, as she didn't seem like a particularly terrible person. And she didn't know precisely why the batfolk seemed so anxious about being outside. But seeing Noxie visibly wilting under the pressure and once more grabbing at her ears in her usual sign for growing worry, it was starting to seem like she would have to.

Lord Hordak's orders were rather clear on the matter.

Catra's life was at stake...

Adora sighed.

She let her shoulders slump a bit, as she realized that she still didn't want to make things any worse for the doctor.

“Uhm...I was just letting Noxie know that she could probably just stay on-”

“The cadet was just helping settle my nerves.”

Adora blinked in surprise at that, before watching the batfolk take in a deep breath and stepping over to the edge, pausing to adjust her medical bag.

“Sorry for being so much trouble, Force Captain.” Noxie eventually said with a firm nod, even though the tension running through her remained apparent. Seeming to take in another deep breath, she moved to clamber over the side.

“Hey, it's no trouble.” Said Force Captain easily reaffirmed, before taking the liberty of raising her claws up to the batfolk's waist as she hung over the side. Without any apparent effort, she easily lifted the doctor up, before setting her down on the ground.

“Errr...thank you.” Noxie awkwardly said after a couple of moments, before straightening out her uniform. Looking back up, she seemed to hesitate before gesturing towards herself and the Force Captain “Could you...not pick me up so often?”

“Hmmm? Oh, right! Personal boundaries!” Scorpia quickly said, before giving a quick nod of understanding. Pointing a claw tip to her nose, before pointing back to the doctor “That's healthy, doc. Good point.”

“...Right. It's not that I'm upset, I just-”

“Say no more, I completely understand.” The Force Captain easily waved away any further concerns. It was only after a moment, that Scorpia visibly was struck by a thought “Oh, that reminds me!”

“Reminds you of what?”

“Just in case we get separated...” Scorpia said, as she reached behind her towards her belt. A few seconds later, she pulled out a small device that Adora recognized as a Horde emergency beacon.

“Here! Just hang onto this while we're out here.” Scorpia said, before offering the device to the perplexed batfolk. Seeing the questioning look being sent her way, as the device dropped into Noxie's palm, Scorpia pointed at the device with her claw “Just flick that switch, and we can find you without any problems.”

“Oh. That sounds useful...” The batfolk agreed after a couple of moments.

“Right? Even if we can't hear your cries for help, we can find you-” Scorpia blithely continued on, not noticing how Noxie seemed to pale at those words.

“Uh, Force Captain!” Adora quickly interjected, worried that the doctor's recent personal progress was about to be accidentally undone. She quickly stepped a bit closer, before setting a steadying hand on the doctor's shoulder “That's, uh-...we'll just make sure we don't lose sight of Noxie...I think...is the best thing to do.”

“Good idea. And if that falls through, we still have the emergency beacon.” Scorpia noted with confidence.

“Right...” The doctor noted with distinctly less confidence. Though after a moment, she deftly put the beacon into her medical bag before giving Adora a nod “...I'll just...stay near you two.”

“Right, an ounce of prevention and all that...” The scorpion woman easily agreed, before turning back towards the waiting troopers. Adora couldn't help but notice how the two troopers quickly turned their attention back to their work, very apparently having been watching the little scene they were all making. It seemed they were at least familiar enough with this kind of thing to not offer any commentary on their Force Captain's interactions.

Adora glanced back to see the doctor taking in another steadying breath, as she wondered if Noxie could manage now. She'd been somwhat heartened to see the doctor stepping up some, but now didn't want to push too quickly, despite wanting to motivate Noxie herself just a little while ago. Thankfully, the batfolk seemed to settle her nerves enough, to give Adora a nod.

She'd probably need to get used to managing the quirks of her subordinates too, if she was ever going to be a Force Captain.

_'Although, I think Noxie technically outranks me...'_

Giving a shake of her head, Adora quickly moved to follow after Scorpia to find out what the waiting troopers had found. With the doctor predictably following very closely behind.

“Alright, guys! What have you got for me?” Scorpia asked of the two troopers, nodding to Adora and the doctor as they approached, before crossing her arms.

“Tracks, sir. At least three sets.” The kneeling trooper matter-of-factly stated, as he gestured to what seemed like a nondescript portion of the forest floor. Or it was nondescript to the untrained eye, at least.

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.” Scorpia nodded along, before glancing to the other trooper.

“We're still trying to put together what we think might have happened, Force Captain.” The other trooper replied, revealing herself as a woman, as she stood a bit straighter. The standing trooper seemed to give her fellow trooper an expectant look, before focusing back on Scorpia “From what we can tell so far, there was a minor scuffle.”

“A scuffle?” Adora asked from the side, earning a glance from Scorpia, before she too turned back to the tracker duo.

“Yep. Looks like one person stumbled into the clearing from over there, made there way to the center of the clearing...” The first trooper confidently explained, pointing out easily the chain of events as he saw them. Glancing back up towards the trio of officers, he gestured to the center of the clearing “...looks like the first party made their way over there, before getting tackled by someone out of nowhere. The first party then got dragged over there by...at least two individuals.”

“You can tell all that just by the tracks?” Adora asked, her eyebrows climbing up a bit at the amount of information he'd managed to gather.

“More or less.” The kneeling trooper replied with a shrug.

“We also found a couple of more things, Force Captain.” The female trooper added, still seemingly put out by her less disciplined comrade.

“Shoot.” Scorpia casually prompted, earning a moment of hesitation from the more uptight of the two troopers.

“Err, yes...” The female trooper gave a nod, before glancing to her companion. Seeing him shrug seemed to shake her out of it, as she took a few steps towards the center of the glade “...we think there may have been something here.”

“Like what?” Adora prompted this time, before she turned her attention to the seemingly more experienced of the two troopers, as he stood up.

“It looks like there was something stuck in the ground over there. Small indent, torn vines piled around the spot.” He explained, gesturing over to the spot.

“A cursory scan also detected some residual energy signatures centered on this spot.” The female trooper added, gesturing to the data pad at her side “We recorded the readings.”

“Readings...That's good?” Scorpia nodded along, making Adora wonder now if perhaps the Force Captain expected her to take the lead. She couldn't rule-out the idea that Scorpia might be testing her ability to lead in the field. It was hardly a priority in her mind right now, but the cadet could imagine either Lord Hordak or Shadow Weaver wanting an assessment under these conditions.

“Uhm, you said there were a couple of things you found?” Adora asked, wanting to make sure nothing was lost.

“Yeah, we found barf.” The male trooper bluntly said.

“You...found barf?” The cadet blankly replied, as she furrowed her brow.

“Do you have to say it like that?” The other trooper finally asked her comrade in exasperation.

“What? We did.” The older trooper said with another shrug, before walking a bit closer to where he claimed someone had been dragged. Adora was mildly proud of the fact that she could almost see the signs of what looked like something being pulled over the ground. Granted, she had a much easier time spotting what the tracker was focused on though, as he plainly pointed it out.

“Oh.” Adora said, with Noxie following over to bend over her shoulder to look, before giving a little jump at some random forest sound.

“Yeah, pretty sure whoever got tackled then vomited on one of the assailants. You can kind see where one looks to have stumbled back.” He continued on with apparent certainty. He then knelt down again before pointing to what was evidently dried out vomit “Definitely looks like someone couldn't keep down their ration bars...”

“Rations bars? You can tell that?” Adora quickly blurted out, before stepping closer to look.

“Yeah, I've seen enough half-digested ration bars to-”

“That has to have been Catra then!” Adora declared excitedly, prompting a pause from the trooper as he seemed to consider something.

“Huh...Does this Catra have clawed feet and walk around barefoot?”

“Yes!...Well, sort of. She's not exactly barefoot, but-”

“This is probably her then.” He easily cut-in, before the cadet could ramble on any longer. Looking back towards Scorpia “We sent the two other members of our squad to backtrack through the brambles that the first party...Catra, came in through. Looking for signs. If we got positive ID, we can call them back in, I think.”

“Sounds good.” Scorpia said with another nod, to which he gave a nod. A moment later, the trooper tapped a button on the side of his helmet twice. Visibly listening in to a response, he tapped the side of his helmet a third time.

“They found a couple of more things. Scratch marks on a log. Sound consistent. They should be back in a few minutes.” The trooper said in the relaxed drawl that didn't quite match Adora's own emotional state.

“Alright! So, we definitely know that Catra came through here. So we're on the trail.” The cadet declared, as she brought her fist down upon her open palm. Bringing her hand up to her chin, she continued to work over the new information “And it looks like she found something, before being accosted by an unknown assailant.”

“Yep. Probably the Rebellion.”

“Th-The Rebellion?!” Adora blurted out in alarm.

“Uh, yeah. The Rebellion? Aren't we a bit far out for that?” Scorpia added after a moment, holding out her own claw towards the trooper.

“Lines-up. Both of the other tracks are from good, high-quality boots. Not of Horde-make. Wouldn't see that on most wanderers or hunters in the area.” The trooper easily explained.

“Well, I mean-...We shouldn't leap to conclusions just because of what shoes they were wearing, right?” Adora pointed out, increasingly worried now, about the possibility of Catra being captured by the enemy.

“It might actually be a blessing in disguise.” Noxie finally chimed in from behind Adora.

“How could Catra being captured by the enemy be a good thing?!” Adora shouted, as she turned on the doctor, prompting Noxie to lean back anxiously.

“I-...I didn't mean that it was the best-case scenario.” Noxie quickly clarified, as she waved her hands in front of her, in a call for the cadet to calm down. Frowning a bit, she lowered her hands “It's just in Catra's condition, it might not be the worst thing for her to not be alone right now.”

“Oh...” Adora said, lowering her own hands, as her expression dropped at the thought.

“Catra was quite feverish before and sweating profusely. She was losing a lot of fluids.” Noxie continued to explain, somewhat more confident about the topic of healthcare. The doctor then gave a pat on the side of her medical bag “In the Fright Zone, under supervision, it wasn't a huge issue. But if she's losing even more fluids out here...”

The cadet eventually gave a slow nod at that. It wasn't pleasant to think about what might be happening to her friend, whilst she was in the clutches of the Rebellion. They could be torturing her. Or letting her condition get worse. They might even get a Princess involved and expose Catra to their weird magic. But even all that wasn't any riskier than Catra being left alone in these woods in her condition, she had to admit.

“I'm fairly confident that whoever found your friend is at least trying to keep her alive...” Noxie added, with a sympathetic nod towards Adora. Holding up her hands, she gave a shake of her head “Even if it's the Rebellion, Catra has no value to them if she's dead.”

“Why would you say she's dead?!” Adora blurted out, as she rounded back on the doctor.

“I didn't! The opposite! The opposite is what I meant!” Noxie quickly replied, holding her hands out in front of her defensively.

“Wait...the opposite would mean Catra _only_ has value to them if she's dead? Is that right?” Scorpia pointed out, rubbing at her chin with her clawtip and not seeing the aghast look on the cadet's face.

“We have to rescue her right now!” Adora declared before wrapping her arm around Noxie's waist and slinging her over her shoulder.

“...What's going on?” The bemused batfolk asked, as she tried to figure out why she was being lugged around like a sack of ration bars.

“Catra might need medical assistance!” The cadet shouted back as she started to run towards the edge of the glade.

“...If you keep panicking, I'm probably going to start panicking again.” Noxie pointed out, her tone increasingly anxious.

“We can't waste any time! We have to pick-up this trail right now, before the Rebellion does anything to Catra!” Adora said, turning her head to talk back to the doctor, as she pointed wildly into the woods.

“That's not the trail.” The trooper from before dryly noted.

“Oh, uhm...” Adora briefly went blank at that. Turning to look back towards the one with the apparent tracking experience, she seemed to think about it for second before pointing to a different part of the treeline.

“Colder.”

She promptly started turning back the other way.

“Warmer. Warmer. Warmer...you went too far...There you go.” The older trooper calmly replied, as he gave her a heading.

“They went in that direction?” Scorpia asked, pointing her own claw to where Adora was pointing.

“Yep. Looks like they knew where they wanted to go.” The tracker said with a nod

“Adora...can you put me down please?” Noxie chimed in, only to be ignored by everyone.

“Huh. Last I checked, the closest thing in that direction would have to be...Thaymor.” The Force Captain eventually said, after racking her memory for the layout of the Whispering Woods.

“Th-Thaymor! The Rebellion stronghold?!” Adora blurted out.

“That's the one.” Scorpia said with a nod.

“Please don't carry me to a-” Noxie began again, before being cut-off by the brisk pace set down by the panicked cadet.

“I'm coming, Catra! If I have to march my way through this whole forest myself, I'm bringing you home!” Adora determinedly declared, before stomping her way into the woods, the worried batfolk still on her shoulder.

“...I thought we were just gonna take the skiffs?” The Force Captain eventually said.

A few moments later, Adora walked back into the glade with that same determined expression on her face. Stopping in front of Scorpia and the two onlooking troopers, she stood at attention for a moment, before lowering the doctor back to the ground lightly. After a brief pause, Adora gave an awkward nod, visibly conceding the point.

“Right. The skiffs. I forgot we had those.”

* * *

This was the nicest Catra had felt in a while.

Which wasn't saying much, given her circumstances, but still. The exhaustion was still there, the throbbing headache, the perpetual sense that she was floating and swaying, none of that had gone away. But there was a small degree of comfort that had her hoping she might open her eyes to find herself back in the cadet barracks.

She could feel her nose twitch as the air blew across her face and cooled some of the sweat she could still feel clinging to her skin. There was enough indistinct hustle and bustle, that she couldn't make out any one noise; part of her was disappointed to note that it wasn't the perpetual white noise of metal and machinery she was more familiar with. Still, it almost felt like she'd been asleep for a change, instead of simply passed out. She could even feel some soft, smooth fabric draped over her, almost like a blanket.

Catra could almost feel a ray of hope in all of this.

Or maybe it was a ray of sunshine.

Yep, it was definitely a ray of sunshine. Beaming right down onto her face, lighting up the inside of her eyelids as she tried to cringe away from it. One of her eyes crept open without her thinking about it and she instantly regretted it, feeling as if the bright light was stabbing into her brain. It was like staring straight up into one of the search lights they used to watch the perimeters of the Fright Zone, but worse. Catra was already sensitive enough to light and had long grown accustomed to the lesser amounts of natural light in the Fright Zone. Even with her eyes closed, it still seemed too bright.

She idly noted that her wrists were still tied together, but it hardly registered, as she tried to shift away from the light with a small groan. Thankfully, it wasn't terribly difficult to do so, as she soon managed to push herself back into whatever shade she'd been sleeping in before. Waiting for the burning of her eyes to subside, she peeked out again.

There was still plenty of daylight to be found, in the periphery of her foggy vision, but she still managed to focus enough to see the simple cloth overhang up above. She could see squat, mushroom like buildings all around with harmless folk wandering all about the place. She assumed she was propped up against a similar building, and was proven right. She was sitting upon a crude wooden bench, leaning up against the wooden supports of the similarly crude awning above her.

“I guess you're awake again.”

Catra blinked the fog out of her eyes, before tilting her head enough to the side to follow the voice. It took her a couple of moments to recall the girl from before, the moodier of her two captors. The princess seemed to be appraising her, perhaps trying to control her emotions a little better than before. Though the cadet's eyes soon drifted past Sparkles' own gaze, onto another familiar sight.

She could just catch sight of a handle peeking out of a bundled up roll of cloth.

The sword.

Staring at it, the weapon's hilt seemed to have lost some of its luster, but she would recognize it anywhere. She'd recognize it till the end of her days, it was burned so clearly into her mind. The image of the glowing sword still came to her, even if she couldn't see the rest of it in its coverings. The way it had almost seemed to call to her, its glow, the promise of something she couldn't name.

But with it came the memory of pain. Of cold, uncaring eyes looking down upon her, telling her it wasn't hers, that it wasn't meant for her. The voice she also recalled too clearly, even though they had been silent for some time. That voice had only been telling her something that she'd heard her whole life, so it should be no surprise that it stuck with her. She shouldn't have been surprised that the sword was meant for Adora, and not her.

But she wanted the sword.

“Hey...Hey! My eyes are over here!”

Catra had to blink once more, shaken from her thoughts by the other girl interposing herself between the cadet and the object of her desire. Sparkles was even helpfully pointing to both of her eyes, as if it wasn't readily apparent where they were.

“Why would I care about your eyes?” The cat-girl blurted out the first thought that came to mind, her brow furrowed, as she stared up at the girl.

Glimmer just made another frustrated noise, before giving a roll of her eyes, reminding Catra of just how easy it was to pester the other girl. Still the princess seemed to be striving to keep her feelings under control for the time being. Catra had to assume that the other one, Bow, had talked to her about it before leaving her in the other girl's care.

Sparkles managed to let out whatever annoyance she felt with a sigh, before looking back towards the cadet.

“How are you feeling?” It wasn't quite forced, when Glimmer asked, even though she couldn't entirely wipe away the scowl she always seemed to sport around Catra.

“I don't know...” Catra easily admitted, as it was the truth. She certainly didn't feel better and she still didn't really know what was wrong with her.

Even so, she could almost feel the sword's weight, despite it being clearly out of reach.

“Alright, well...Bow should hopefully be able to find a healer.” Glimmer explained after a moment, before sitting back down on the bench. Setting her hands on her knees, she looked back out “He should be back soon.”

“Yeah...” Catra said without much thought, as she let her gaze wander across the strange place. It was bright and lively, despite seeming like no one was actually doing any work, and there were entirely too many new smells and sounds for her to make sense of.

“...Guess we found one that wasn't burned down this time.” She added after a moment, watching as a small group walked by, their arms filled with baskets of food.

“What is wrong with you?!”

Catra actually felt her ears flatten against her head, shielding her hearing, as the other girl shouted down at her. It seemed Sparkles wasn't nearly as in control as she had given her credit for her, as the princess managed to look both furious and aghast. Even the girl's fists were shaking and clenched at her side. And it was only after a few moments passed, and Glimmer's face started to crack, that it occurred to her that the question wasn't entirely rhetorical and she seemed to genuinely want an answer.

“How should I know?”

“Wha- Who else would know?!” Glimmer demanded, after being very obviously taken aback by the question, holding her arms out as she waited for an answer.

“Everyone, I guess. They're not here though.” Catra replied, still lacking the energy or drive to even give a shrug and leaving her tone to do all the work. Her apathy seemed to come through clearly, as the princess pressed her clenched fists against her face for a moment, apparently trying to contain herself now.

“How can you care so little about- about-...” The princess trailed off, as she seemed to notice the gazes of a few onlookers. Her expression seemed to drop, as she realized the scene she was making. But it wasn't out of embarrassment, as far as Catra could tell. The other girl briefly seemed to sport an expression that the cadet couldn't parse apart, as she watched the princess slump back down onto the bench beside her.

“How can anyone care so little about what this war is doing to people?” Glimmer eventually asked in a quiet voice, not even looking towards her prisoner now.

Catra blinked a couple of times over, as she watched all of this play out, uncertain as to what to make of all of this. Seeing such anger burn itself out and become so bleak and sad, simply from the sight of the curious onlookers didn't really connect with anything from Catra's own experiences. Within a few moments, the villagers seemed to lose whatever fleeting interest they had in what was going on between the two of them. Soon enough the sounds of chatter and laughter picked back up again, leaving them as a weirdly moody island at the center of it.

“...Do they just not know about the war?” Catra eventually asked, her attention more on the locals now than the girl at her side.

“That wouldn't be the worst thing.” Glimmer bitterly noted from the side, scowling off to the side. Seeming to clench at her knees again, the princess turned back towards her “Not having to wonder what you're going to do to them next.”

“What have I done?”

“You know what I mean!” Glimmer snapped again. After a moment, she seemed to realize she was getting worked up again, before crossing her arms “They should be able to have one day where they don't have to be afraid.”

“...Why should they?”

“Because no one should have to live their whole life afraid of what's gonna happen next. They shouldn't have to wonder when the-...you are gonna show up next.” The princess said, turning to lock eyes with Catra with a surprising amount of fire.

Thankfully, Catra had long gotten used to not giving herself away and had learned to keep her own emotions in-check. Even in her current state, she knew that she could bury what she was feeling more thoroughly than Sparkles would ever be able to manage. She knew how to hold back on what she really wanted to say, to not let it out how angry or hurt the words of those around her had made her. She managed to keep from laughing in the other girl's face.

These people should be afraid of the Horde, because there was no way that they could stop it. That was just a simple facet of life, and as soon as they realized it they could learn about how the world really operated.

“...Huh.” Catra grunted before leaning her head back further in the shade. That was all the other girl was going to get out of her.

Silence reigned over the two for sometime after that, the princess apparently still pouting and looking out onto the bustling village. Which didn't particularly bother Catra, given the circumstances, as it let her lean back and try to think about things.

She wanted the sword.

That was, quite bluntly, one of her main objectives at this point. On some level, she knew that she couldn't go back without it, even if she couldn't pin down why that was. Even in her current state, she couldn't imagine it being terribly difficult to escape her two captors. The real challenge would be getting away with the sword and then finding her way back to the Fright Zone. Flexing her fingers, she continued to rake her claws slowly over the rope binding her wrists together; she could feel the fibers slowly snapping with each pass. Glancing down, she had to admit that the strange cloak that they'd draped over her was coming in handy, as it hid her efforts to work away at the bindings.

It also felt surprisingly nice against her.

Pausing at cutting away the ropes holding her, she glanced down at the cloak or poncho or whatever it was she was wearing. Lifting her hands from her lap, she took the fabric in her fingers, her claws retracted, and felt at it with her thumbs. It was weirdly cool and smooth, and much softer than the coarse, tough fabrics she'd gotten used to from her cot in the barracks. It seemed to flow a bit, when she let it slide in her fingers, it was so smooth. Even the color was soothing.

“What is this?”

“What? Oh.” Glimmer blurted out, turning and perhaps expecting another thing to be angry about. Only for her face to drop to a more neutral look, as she realized what her prisoner was talking about “Yeah, we didn't want to freak-out the villagers when we carried you in.”

“What's it made of?” Catra asked, still somewhat fascinated by it, as she brought it up and brushed it against her face.

“Errr...silk, I think.” The princess eventually said, watching with a furrowed brow now.

“What's silk?” The cadet added, not knowing nearly enough about the wider world for that to be an actual answer.

“Have you never heard of silk in the Horde?” Glimmer had to ask, turning to more fully face her prisoner now, briefly forgetting to avoid mentioning the war. Seeing the slight look of annoyance and the arched brow from Catra, she let out a puff of air before trying to explain “It's...silk's like a fabric you make with certain bugs, I think. Some of the villagers cultivate it, I'm pretty sure.”

“...So you stole this from the villagers?”

“What? No!” Glimmer quickly denied. Turning back around, she crossed her arms, before looking back off to the side again “We're just borrowing it.”

“Did you ask permission?”

“Well...no, but-”

“So you stole it.”

“Not if we bring it back!” Glimmer finally pointed out, turning to gesture towards the other girl again. Seeming to realize that Catra was getting under her skin again, she eventually let out another sigh “Why do you constantly need to annoy me?”

“I don't care if you stole it.”

“...Fine. We stole it.”

“I mean...you are kidnappers.”

“It's not kidnappin- You know what, if you're not gonna take this seriously...” Glimmer eventually trailed off, not really finishing her thought. It took Catra a couple of moments to realize, before she let the silky garment slip through her fingers and looked back to the other girl.

Sparkles just seemed to be staring at her now, lost in thought.

“What?” Catra eventually demanded, snapping the other girl from her thoughts.

“What?...I mean, it's nothing.” The princess quickly brushed aside the question.

“...Whatever.” The cadet said after a few moments, brushing off the issue as easily as her captor did. Scooting back a bit further under her awning, she pulled at the cloak, until it was bunched up around her face. She might have to steal this cloak along with the sword, she realized, as she settled in more comfortably now.

“Hey...there was something you mentioned before.” She heard Sparkles say aloud, even as she closed her eyes.

“Hmmm...” Catra muttered noncommittally, as she idly brushed some of the sweat from her face, and let her earlier sense of wooziness and weightlessness take hold. It'd be nice to actually fall asleep of her own volition for once.

“Yeah, earlier you mentioned something about some medicine...?”

She didn't bother responding this time.

“It could be important, is all I'm saying.”

The sounds all around her started running together.

“When Bow gets back with a healer...”

They could wake her when they found a healer.

“Are you even listening...?”

Catra definitely wasn't listening, as she felt herself start to drift away again. She needed plans and ideas to make those plans happen, but that could come later on. One good idea was to rest while she could, before committing fully to a plan. They'd let their guard down, she could get the sword, and she could get back to Adora. And the Fright Zone. But for now, she was literally out of the woods and things could wait till after they found a healer. Or a doctor. Or whatever.

Her ear twitched.

Someone was touching her ears.

Catra let out a shrill screech, as that thought sank in, before trying to bat away at whatever was groping at her ears “Get away fr-”

Thwack!

There was very abruptly another sensation to deal with, as she felt her face sharply slap into the wooden beam she'd been laying against. Her sudden, mindless jerking around had lead her to whipping her head into the support beam of the awning, causing her face to start radiating out pain. She soon was trying to grope at her own face through her cloak with her bound hands, trying to sooth away the blooming ache.

“I'm sorry! I didn't know-”

“Just get away!” Catra groaned out, her eyes clenched shut, as she tried to talk around her hands now.

“I didn't know you were going to freak out!” Sparkles tried to explain.

Catra ignored the other girl for a few more moments, as the pain declined from a sharp heat to a dull ache across her face. Slowly opening her eyes again she saw the silky fabric from before and drew some comfort from the lack of any blood staining it. Letting out another groan, she leaned back and could see the top of awning still shaking a bit from her collision with the support beam.

“Are you alright?”

“No! How could I be alright?” The Horde cadet snapped at the ridiculous question, before awkwardly rubbing at her face again. Clenching her eyes at the sensation, she realized that the previously settled aches and pains she'd been dealing with had coming surging back, after she's smacked her face. Opening her eyes to glare at the other girl, she could feel her ears pin back again “Why did you even need to touch them anyway?!”

“I said I'm sorry! I didn't realize your ears were so sensitive.”

“They are not sensitive!”

The princess actually rolled her eyes at that, before planting her fists at her side “Fine. I'm sorry _you_ are so sensitive about people touching your ears.”

“I am not!” Catra blurted out, though she realized that her face was starting to heat-up now for reasons other than a smack to the face or whatever sickness she was dealing with. Biting her lip, she looked to the side, before focusing back on the princess “What were you even doing anyway?”

“I was _trying_ to ask you if needed any sort of special medicine. So I could let the healer know.” Glimmer replied firmly, not backing down now.

“...Why would I need special medicine?” Catra asked with a furrowed brow, genuinely perplexed by the idea.

“Because you said that you thought your medicine had stopped working!” Her captor exclaimed, throwing her arms out and leaning in.

Catra could only stare up at the other girl with a clear lack of comprehension. Which after a few moments seemed to sink into Sparkles' head, as she eventually leaned back and took a seat.

“Although, now that I think about it...you were kind of out of it when you said that.” Glimmer eventually conceded, letting her head hang down some.

The cadet let her gaze rest on the other girl for a few moments, not wanting to particularly let up on her for the invasion of her personal space. Catra wasn't super-happy with being touched in general, but her ears were off-limits to pretty much everyone. All the way back to when she had been little and Adora had constantly insisted on rubbing them. As if that hadn't been embarrassing enough on its own, Lonnie somehow found out and teased her relentlessly over it. Or at least, that's how she recalled it.

“Sorry again for touching your ears.” Glimmer said as the silence wore on, before looking towards Catra. Giving a tilt of her head, she gave a small shrug “I really didn't think you'd freak out like that.”

“I didn't freak out.” The cat-girl said a touch defensively.

“Alright. I didn't mean to surprise you when I touched your ears.” Glimmer said, visibly resisting the urge to roll her eyes again. She seemed to think about something for a moment, before visibly glancing towards Catra' pinned down ears “You know, they were pretty warm when I touched them.”

“So?”

“I just don't know if that's normal for you, is all.” The princess innocently explained, holding up her hands. Knitting her fingers together, she rest them on her lap, before glancing to the side coyly.

“I didn't think they'd be so soft.”

“Stop talking about my ears!” Catra blurted out, her face burning a little bit brighter, as her reaction earned an annoying snicker from the other girl.

“Alright, alright! I won't talk about it anymore.” Glimmer finally conceded, after spending several moments getting her mirth under control. As she let out her last chuckle over the matter, her face seemed to fall, as she thought about the situation again.

“So, I guess there isn't any special medicine we can get to help you then?”

Catra's gut reaction was to demand why Sparkles even cared, given the level of animosity between the two of them. But that was held back, as she tried to mull over the idea of what medicine she might have been talking about. She could hardly create a coherent timeline out of what she could remember, but she did recall the strange hermit, the one constantly accompanied by the small fluttering bugs. Part of her still wasn't sure if that had even been real, as those memories all seemed so much more dream-like than the rest. But it was the only person she could clearly recall that could have cared enough to help her.

“...Razz.”

“What's that?” Glimmer chimed in from the side, breaking her from her thoughts.

“...It's nothing.” Catra eventually said, before giving a shake of her head. Frowning as the motion sent stabs of pain into her skull, she winced before leaning back again “I'm pretty sure I just imagined it.”

“Well, that sucks...” The princess noted with a heavy sigh. Tapping her fingers on her own seat, she thought about things for a moment, before looking over again “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“What could you get me?” The prisoner asked with obvious, slightly bitter skepticism in her voice. Which quickly fell away as a rather loud growl came from her empty belly.

“I could probably think of one thing.” Glimmer noted with a touch too much smugness.

“Shut-up.” Catra muttered, as she frowned and tried not to curl up on herself.

“I mean, I can get you some food.” The Rebellion Commander offered, her tone picking up a bit of cheer to it. Standing up, she gestured to the goings-on of the village “We've got plenty of options.”

“I never said I was hungry.” The Horde cadet stubbornly replied.

“Okay...Hypothetically, if I was going to get some food, what kind would you want?” Glimmer posed, giving a tilt of her head, and resting her hands on her sides again.

“...What do you mean?”

“I mean, what would you want to eat?”

“...Food?” Catra replied, her confusion still apparent as her eyebrow arched upward again.

Glimmer frowned at that, apparently wondering if perhaps her prisoner was trying to mess with her again. It was after a few moments of openly scrutinizing Catra, that she seemed to shrug to herself.

“Alright, let me put it this way...if you could pick any kind of food to have, what would it be?”

“I-...Gray, I guess.” Catra hesitantly offered, painfully aware that this didn't seem to be the answer that the princess was looking for.

_'How many kinds of food could there be...?'_

“Okay...” Sure enough, Sparkles didn't seem to know how to respond to that. Catra was a bit surprised, when it looked like the other girl consciously decided to not make a bigger deal out of it “I'll just-...I'll see what they're having for the festival. I'll bring back a few things.”

“Whatever.” Catra replied, looking off to the side, unwilling to get hung-up on this issue anymore. Though, even with the yawning emptiness in her stomach distracting her, she couldn't help but watch Sparkles pick up the sword out of her peripheral vision.

“I won't go far. I'll be back in a couple of minutes.” Glimmer quickly reassured her, not that she needed any reassurances. Or so Catra thought, as the other girl abruptly disappeared into a cloud of sparkles. Blinking a couple of times, it was only when she processed the same sight in-reverse by a nearby vendor, that she put things together.

“Huh...I thought I imagined that.”

But sure enough, even from where she was sitting, Catra could catch the telltale flash of light again and again. Apparently she'd recalled things correctly, in regards to the princess's ability to pop in-and-out of existence like she did. She was starting to wonder if Sparkles was simply doing it because she was in a rush to get back or if she just wanted to avoid walking. Either way, it still seemed like an inordinately long time for a task as simple as getting some food.

Catra managed to keep herself from jumping, when the other girl popped back into existence right in front her.

“Alright! What do you want to try first?” The princess asked excitedly, her arms laden with a variety of supposed food stuffs. Underneath it all, she'd even managed to tuck the sword under her arm; judging by how Sparkles needed to start setting things down on the bench, she likely would have had trouble actually walking back over.

“How is that all food?” Catra bluntly asked, her eyes scanning over the pile of edibles and her nose twitching at the onslaught of new smells.

“We got lucky. They're handing out a bunch of food for the festival right now.” Glimmer easily explained.

“The what?”

“You know? Like a party.” The princess clarified, before seeing that she apparently wasn't getting through to her captive. Visibly processing that, this seemed to take some of the wind out of her sails, before Sparkles tried again “It's like...a time where people get together and share a bunch of food and spend time with each other.”

“...Lunch?”

“...Let's just move on.” Glimmer eventually said, leaving Catra feeling like she was still missing something. She didn't get much of a chance to dwell on it, before the princess easily held up one of her prizes for her prisoner to see “I figured you might want something a bit meaty to start.”

“What is it?” Catra bluntly asked, as she surveyed the strange thing in her hands, leaning back some into the cover of her awning. Curling her lip a bit, she gave a frown “I don't usually like brown.”

“...Brown? Have you never even seen a pastry before?” Glimmer asked, very apparently perplexed by Catra's association between food and colors. Shrugging that away, she sat down closer to Catra before holding up the meat pie closer “It's like bread and meat and a bit of- You know what? Doesn't matter. Just try it.”

“I didn't even say that I was hungry.”

“Yeah, your stomach did most of the talking for you.”

Catra huffed at that in embarrassment, not caring to be reminded of that, before letting her eyes settle on the strange food that was being presented to her. It wasn't a ration bar, so she had no real frame of reference to judge it by. She almost wanted to tell the other girl to bring out something else, something that seemed more familiar to her, when the smell hit her.

It smelled...warm.

That was the best she could do to describe it, as she lacked the words for what was hitting her nose. She literally didn't have the words for whatever this new food was, having never smelled anything like it. With the pastry separated from the rest of the food, she could still pick out a whole medley of smells coming off of it, all of them pleasant in some manner or another. It took her a moment to realize that she was staring at it now

“You wanna try it?” Glimmer bounced it up in her hand tantalizingly, reading the cadet's expression easily.

“I- Er-...do I just...bite into it?”

“Uh, yeah...here.” The princess said, choosing not to comment on the unusual question, before holding it up closer for Catra to sample it.

It smelled even better up close.

She took a bite.

“So...pretty good, right?”

It was too much. It was just an explosion of different flavors and sensations melting together into a swirl of greatness. The light crunch of the outer layer, the softer layers beneath, the salty and chewy center that just melted in her mouth. She had known all of two flavors before now, those being brown and gray, and here were a dozen more flavors all packed into one bite. And it wasn't just the flavors, but the textures as well, that came together as a harmonious whole. The outer crust reminded her of how they would sometimes heat up the brown ration bars, and the outer layer would get just a bit crispy, making the brown ones almost palatable. But this was on a whole other level. This left even the gray ration bars in the garbage.

“It's...” Catra began, almost gasping a bit, before swallowing down that one delicious bite. She had to rein in her emotions briefly, before clearing her throat “...it's fine.”

It was the best thing ever.

“Just...fine? Did you want to try something else?” Glimmer innocently asked, pulling her hand back along with the glorious pastry.

Catra couldn't quite keep the little sound of disappointment from creeping out, as she saw her food float out of reach. And the other girl seemed to notice, prompting Catra to quickly avert her gaze, in an attempt to not seem too desperate.

“I mean, if you don't want it...” Glimmer eventually said, very apparently realizing that the cadet very much wanted it. Catra found herself chewing on her lip, as she saw from the corner of her eye the princess bring the food back over “...just kinda seems like a waste to not eat it.”

“I could...probably finish it...”

“Are you sure?”

“...Yes.” Catra grudgingly muttered.

“Alright, here you go.” Glimmer replied with a smile, bringing the pastry in for another bite.

The Horde cadet couldn't keep her eyes from lighting up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Alright, so this one's a little late getting posted, but it's also a little longer to make up for it. And hey, loot at that, I've already got over a thousands hits! Things are going pretty well so far.
> 
> Still keep the pace a bit slow, but things will be picking up some in the next chapter. Fight scenes and attempted rescues and swords, oh my. As always, I welcome any questions, critiques, or comments that anyone might have.


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